


Love, Lust, Leo

by RossLalonde



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Eros - Freeform, M/M, NSFW, Slow Build, himeros - Freeform, pothos - Freeform, slightly nsfw scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:31:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5094224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RossLalonde/pseuds/RossLalonde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason Grace is still trying to woo Piper McLean. After picking up Percy, Hazel, and Frank from Camp Jupiter, the seven set off towards Greece. Leo Valdez is happy for his best friend, and urges him to go after Piper. The only problem is that Leo has fallen head over heels for Jason. And after getting tricked into a deal with the dangerous gods of love, Leo finds himself in a situation that could cost him his heart and his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Captain Goes Down With His Ship

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, so this is my first fanfic ever, so criticism is welcome, but only constructively please! If you find any errors let me know! If you like it, it would be great if you could leave me notes or tips on what you'd like to see. Thanks!  
> -Ross

**Chapter 1, Part 1: Jason**

The sun had finally begun its’ descent behind the clouds. The fading light cast brilliant rays of gold and orange across the sky, and painted the clouds a deep shade of pink that looked almost purple around the edges. Jason watched the sky darken into a deep violet as the once bright light turned into wisps here and there until they eventually disappeared behind the jagged surface of the mountains. This is quite possibly the biggest perk of being on watch. The sunset reminded him of everything peaceful in the world; everything that he was fighting for. 

He looked down at his friends below him, everyone gathered on the main deck for Fun Friday: a way for the group to wind down after a stressful week of fighting monsters and trying not to die. It was originally Piper’s idea, and no one was really excited about it at first. But after a few weeks of trying it out, it became something to look forward to at the end of the week. Jason smiled as he watched Piper set up the make-shift stage below Leo’s control panel, right where the the wheel would be. The way she moved, elegantly without meaning to, beautiful and plain at the same time. He could stay right here and stare at her for ages, just watching her be - well - her. 

Piper turned around and looked up at him and their eyes locked. Jason felt his cheeks grow hot, and saw his own embarrassment reflected on her face, flushed and beautiful in the silver moonlight. He smiled at her and waved, making her wave back in response before gesturing for him to come down. He complied, climbing down the ladder quickly and letting his feet settle on the wooden floor of the main deck. He looked up at Piper after he had landed and gods did it suddenly get hotter outside?

Jason felt his face flush slightly as she approached him, a smile curling onto her lips sweetly as she spoke. Whatever was being uttered to him went into one ear and out the other because the only thing he could pay attention was her eyes, her lips, the way the feather braided into her hair blew side to side with the ocean breeze, the-

“Jason?”

Jason snapped out of his thoughts, physically blinking rapidly as he was brought back to the world of the living.

“H-huh? Oh, Pipes, gods sorry I was just-”

“Getting lost in all the excitement that is Fun Friday?” she said teasingly, looking behind herself at the others, who seemed to be losing a fight with a brightly colored piñata. She giggled to herself, watching Frank turn into a giraffe over and over again as a means to hang it up as high as possible.

Jason looked over at them questioningly and then back at Piper. “Is a piñata part of a dance battle? Or am I missing something…”  
Piper shrugged.

“It was Percy’s idea.”

“Understandable.”

Jason looked at her again, a comfortable silence falling between the two of them as she looked out towards the sea. He felt like he could sit there forever just staring and taking in her beauty. He almost looked away when she turned to him as well, but their eyes had already met and holy shit did she look beautiful in this moment.

He felt his face flush, and hers did too. His heart rate picked up, and he was pretty sure hers did too. His lips curled into a smile and he was about to say something when- 

“Jason!”

Both his and Piper’s head whipped around towards the source of the call, looking over to see brunnette hair and green eyes that seemed way too green to be humanly possible - not that any of them were fully human anyways.

“Could you help us with this? For once, it looks like your Superman powers will come in handy,” he smirked to himself, obviously way too pleased with his own insult. Jason sighed and looked at Piper as if asking if he should go. Piper gave him a stern look and nodded her head towards Percy, earning another sigh from Jason, much more audible this time. 

Jason stepped away from Piper, but didn’t forget to sneak a look back at her before continuing to Percy.

Before he was even ten feet in front of him, the piñata was being tossed his way, causing him to almost drop it and spill the candy that laid beneath the paper mâché surface. Jason looked up at Percy with a confused look.

“Thanks, Jace. Now I have to go do some,” he hesitated, trying to think of an excuse, “stuff...with Hazel and Piper, yeah.”

Jason stood up straight and rolled his eyes. “Making me do all the dirty work, huh, Jackson?”, he said mockingly, trying to invoke a reaction from the demigod, “or is this just an admission of failure?”

Percy rolled his eyes as well, obviously not affected by Jason’s persistence to annoy him.

“Right, also, Annabeth wanted you to check on Leo. He’s been in mechanic heaven for gods know how long and she was starting to get worried. You mind?”

Jason shrugged, an exception to another one of Percy’s chores that he was pretty sure he was supposed to be doing himself. But he didn’t completely mind. He liked to keep his mind off things sometimes. Or people.

“Thanks, see you on the dance floor, Grace.” And with a really cheesy - admittedly shitty - attempt at dancing, Percy left, leaving Jason with the piñata and a still very giraffe’d Frank.

“Sup man.”

A nod back.

Jason held onto the piñata tightly as he soared up smoothly to the top of the beam the other had been trying to get at. He hung it around the wooden frame easily and fell to the floor quickly, catching the piñata at the bottom. Frank shrunk to normal size and muttered a small ‘Thanks’ before heading off to where Percy now stood with Annabeth and Hazel. Jason smiled at the sight of them.

Despite his mixed feelings towards Percy, he couldn’t help but admire the relationship between him and Annabeth. He watched as Percy said something to her, something completely stupid, no doubt, and chuckled as she punched him playfully in the arm. He had to admit, they worked well together. He and Pipes could be like that; that is, if he ever worked up the courage to ask her out...

He sighed for the third time that night before heading down the stairs, past the kitchen, and towards the clanking of machinery that was more of Leo’s bedroom than the engine room. The second he walked in, he was hit with a wave of heat and the smell of oil. Spare parts littered the ground everywhere, making it hard to walk without stepping on something. Every so often, steam would spit out from different pipes here and there, doing nothing to help keep the room cool. He found Leo rolled underneath the main engine in the middle of the room, lying one of those weird boards they use to go under cars. What were they called? A creeper?

Jason stood next to Leo’s feet, the rest of his body hidden from view. “Leo!”

Even after yelling at the top of his lungs, the mechanic still hadn’t heard him. This called for drastic measures. 

Jason kicked one of Leo’s feet, soon followed by a bang! and a stream of words in Spanish, all of which probably weren’t the nicest. The board beneath him rolled out to reveal a very sweaty, and very shirtless, Leo, with a small red bump on his forehead. Despite his pain, he smiled when he saw Jason, and quickly held out his hand for support. Jason lifted him up, smiling back and laughing a bit. 

“Sorry about that, I did call you,” 

Leo simply grinned, rubbing his forehead and shrugging. “It happens. What’s up, chief?” 

“You’re missing all the excitement that is: Fun Friday.” Jason grinned at his friend, and for the first time he noticed the way his eyes seemed to hold a small fire behind them, as if excited about anything and everything. He thought it weird to notice such a small thing and decided to think nothing of it, reducing it to his brain acting up from all the steam that now intoxicated his lungs. He only realizes he’s been staring too long when Leo begins waving his hand in front of Jason’s face while he wiped sweat off his brow. 

“Hello? Earth to Grace. Is anyone home in that big blonde head?” 

“Sorry, I’m kinda out of it.” Jason shrugged, throwing Leo his shirt from the table next to him. 

“Thinkin about Beauty Queen? Did something happen?” Leo asked as he swung his shirt over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, kind of. We exchanged like, two sentences, and she caught me staring at her about a thousand times. Oh, and I’m pretty sure I looked like a tomato the entire time we talked. Is that weird?” 

“Really weird. She probably thinks you’re a creep. You should cut your losses and call it quits.” Leo’s voice sounded so serious, you would have to know him in order to sense his sarcasm.

“Seriously Leo. I don’t know what I’m doing. I feel like a huge idiot all the time. What should I do?” Jason slumped his shoulders, and his tone sounded an awful lot like a whining child, but at this point he didn’t care. Leo was his best friend. He trusted him with everything, even the weakest parts of him. 

“Just suck it up and talk to her, Jay. She’s not gonna wait forever, you know. And it’s super obvious she likes you, and you like her, so what’s the dealio?” Leo had finally finished cleaning himself off and pulled his shirt on when he responded. “Tonight’s the perfect opportunity to win her over. It’s a dance thing, right? I’ll play a slow song near the end of the night, and that’s when you make your move and dance with her. Sound good?”

It did sound good. The perfect way to swoon any girl was through dance, right? “Actually, yeah. I don’t know what I’d do without you, man.” Jason smiled and hugged his friend tightly, the smell of oil and tabasco sauce hanging from his clothes: Leo’s own personal cologne. It doesn’t sound great, but the smell actually comforted Jason. It reminded him of his best friend, and all the good feelings that came with him. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m great. Now get out of here and go woo Piper. I gotta clean up a little bit but I’ll meet you out there.” Leo smiled and shoved Jason playfully towards the door.

“I’ll try. I just wish I was as comfortable around her as I am around you.” He shrugged and sighed a bit before turning around and leaving, calling out behind his shoulder. “Don’t be too long!”

If Jason had turned around before he left, he would have seen the bright red blush that now covered Leo’s cheeks. 

_____________

Back on the main deck, everyone was ready for the dance contest. While Jason was gone, the group had hung lines of multi-colored lights from the crow’s nest all the way down to the railings, giving the entire deck a festive glow. Annabeth and Percy had set up a table to the left and right of the ship, filled with plates of food and what looked like bowls of punch. The large empty space in front of the stage was occupied with five very happy demi-gods. Jason watched as Frank and Hazel maneuvered around each other in what could only be seen as dancing, despite the fact that Frank was obviously stiff and nervous. Annabeth and Percy were dancing as well, twirling and jumping with no real direction that somehow looked impressive. 

And then there was Piper.

She had changed into a dark red tank top and blue jeans that complimented her frame nicely. Her hair lay loose at her shoulders, choppy and uneven and yet as perfect as ever. She was dancing next to Hazel and Frank, laughing as she moved with the music in unorganized, random directions. 

And yet she still looked breathtaking. 

That was when she looked around the room, eyes stopping when they met Jason’s and a smile growing on her lips. She crossed the room to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the dance floor. 

“Pipes, what are you-”

“No words.” She interrupted. “Just dance.”

He smiled down at her and did just that. And for a while, he was happy. The music, loud and untamed, engulfed them all into a world where their quest didn’t matter. For even a short time, they felt like normal teenagers, free to do as they pleased. In that moment, everything was perfect. 

Up until the mast came crashing down on top of them. 

**Chapter 1, Part 2: Leo**

Everything was so complicated. 

Leo paced around the engine room, his hands pulling scraps from tables here and there, sometimes from his tool belt, and fiddled with the device in his hands. He was so nervous, his hands were even shaking. Why is he so shaken, you may ask?

He couldn’t stop thinking about Jason Grace. 

His best friend had walked out about five minutes ago and yet Leo was still here, pacing back and forth and thinking way too hard about this. 

Leo knew that he had no chance with Jason, that part was clear. And he was the one that ruined his own chances in the first place. 

It all started when they came back from their quest to save Hera. Leo had urged Jason to be with Piper the entire time they were on that quest, and even more so once they returned to camp. But it wasn’t until they actually returned that Leo realized he had fallen hard for his best friend. But by that point, Pipes already called dibs, and there was not a chance in Hades that he was gonna get between his two best friends hooking up. 

But that didn’t make it any easier to see them together. Or to get over his crush. 

All he could think about was Jason and Piper out on the deck, dancing and flirting. And the flirting led to kissing, and kissing led to making out, and the making out led to-

 _Stop torturing yourself, Valdez._

He wanted to rip his hair out. And he probably would have if his hands weren’t full. Thank gods for his inability to stay still. 

Leo set his latest invention on his workbench and leaned against the wall with a sigh. Oh, how he wished he was straight. Life would be infinitely less complicated. 

Above him, he heard the thumping of music and the sound of feet. How long had he been down here? 

He shrugged it off and headed up the stairs, getting to the top just in time to see the mast get cut down by a blur of green. 

“Watch out!” He barely managed to scream at them before the mast hit the deck, nearly crushing Hazel beneath it. 

Leo ran over and joined his friends, helping them up and grabbing a hammer in each hand from his tool belt. “What in Hades was that thing?”

Everyone looked to Annabeth, who had just barely regained her balance. “Don’t ask me, I didn’t see it.” 

That was when the entire ship began to plummet to the sea below, and the culprit showed its scaley face. 

It looked like a dragon, but more lizard-like. It’s wings were as long as half the ship, green and brown and spiked at the tips. Its head was thin and ugly, with horns coming from the top of its head that reminded Leo of Maleficent. But its eyes were the scariest part: burning bright red with hate and anger. 

“Wyvern…” He could barely make out the name on Annabeth’s lips, her voice shaky and full of fear. Never a good sign.

Leo stood by the fiery remains of the mast, frozen in fear and anger pumping through his veins. Time came to a standstill, and the world fell around him. All that remained were the flaming red eyes in front of him, reflecting images of carnage and death that flooded into his mind. He saw his friends, dead on the floor around him, screams piercing his ears; the image of his mother’s face as the flames engulfed her. 

He would have stayed there all day, immersed in the visions of inevitable doom. A voice echoed through his mind, soothing and sinister at the same time. 

_You cannot win, boy. Everything you love will burn. Just like your mother._

Leo’s bones felt like lead, and he felt the hammers in his hands slip from his grip, falling with a thud to the floor. Suddenly, he felt something hard slam into his side, and he was thrust out of the way just as a blur of green and black nearly cut his head off. 

His head hit the hard floor of the deck, and he groaned as his vision danced with black dots. Time resumed around him, the sounds of despair replaced with metal against scales and footsteps to his left. Once his vision returned, he looked up to see Jason on top of him; Leo’s hands above his head and Jason’s on his waist. 

Leo’s face betrayed him as a blush crept through his cheeks and into his ears. Thankfully, Jason took no notice, and if he did, he blamed it on the danger behind them. 

“Get to the helm, Leo. Try to steer this thing so we don’t all die.” And with that, Jason lept into the air towards the threat they faced, which had found a home on the railing at the end of the ship. It took Leo all of three seconds to get up and sprint to his control consol. He grabbed the wii controllers and yanked them up and forward in an attempt to even out the ship, or at least keep it from plummeting into the ocean below. In the middle of his haste, he dared a glance up; things were not looking good. 

Percy had lept onto the the neck of the beast, trying to find a weak point in the armor. Jason flew around to distract it, along with an eagle that had to be Frank. Annabeth slashed at the wyvern’s feet, stabbing deep into the putrid flesh with her dagger. But that only seemed to annoy it. 

Meanwhile, Piper and Hazel were trying their best to put out the flames that were spreading quickly across the deck. It didn’t help that the lights had fallen and now added to the fire, spreading to every corner around them. Leo jumped as the piñata crashed to the ground beside him, exploding like a bomb of deliciousness. 

Focus Valdez, your ship’s on fire!

“Piper, Hazel, get out of there! The fire’s too much!” He shouted at them, gesturing over to the sides of the ship. “There are emergency fire hoses by the railings! Use those to get that fire out!”

Leo hoped the girls had heard him, because he didn’t have time to repeat himself. The ocean was approaching quickly, and at this rate, they would explode along with the ship. He searched the keyboard in front of him for the emergency button, one that would inflate a raft beneath the ship that would hopefully cushion their fall. 

“Leo, we’re still falling!” Jason called to him, managing to strike the wyvern in the eye. Well, that definitely got it’s attention. 

It let out another horrifying screech, shaking Percy off its back and flinging him down towards the sea. It focused on Jason now, who turned around and burst up into the clouds, Frank hot on his trail.

Oh no…

“Annabeth! He’ll be fine!” Leo called. “Man the ship, I have to help get these fires out!” 

She dashed up the steps, two at a time, and grabbed the controllers from him. “If you can’t get the ship back up in time,” Leo said to her quickly, “Get below deck before we hit the water. Make sure Hazel goes down with you.”

She nodded, and once he was confident that Annabeth could manage the ship, he ran to join Piper at the right side of the ship, nearly slipping on fallen treats and pastries that scattered the floor from the remains of the snack tables. He grabbed the hose and aimed it towards the flames, which had spread to almost all of the right side of the deck and rose into the air, igniting the sails and piercing the air with a bright orange glow. The flames had enveloped the wood around them, licking at Leo’s arms and clothes, which of course didn’t bother him. 

Piper was a different story. 

She cried out in pain next to him, the skin on her left forearm bright red and burned. They backed up against the railing, the ocean almost right below them. He looked to where he left Annabeth, and found that she had disappeared, along with Hazel. Hopefully they had gone below deck like he had told her, but he didn’t have time to check now. He turned to Piper and took her hand before looking behind him into the water. 

“Are you ready?” He asked.

She followed his gaze and seemed to understand his plan, nodding. “Yes.”

He nodded and looked at her. She had tears in her eyes, her free hand gripped tightly to the railing; her hair was burned at the ends and her clothes were tattered. “On three.” 

“One.” His voice sounded hoarse and scared.

“Two.” She swallowed hard, her breathing erratic.

“Three.” They spoke as one before plunging down towards the vast ocean of blue beneath them. The last thing Leo saw was the ocean rising up to catch him, Piper, and the burning blaze that had become the Argo II.


	2. Leo Makes A Deal With The Diaper Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting so far! I hope you enjoy the next chapter (which is really long btw, so get ready for that), and feel free to leave comments! My tumblr is pretty-decent-fanfiction, so follow me on their for the dates for the new chapter updates! Enjoy!

**Chapter 2, Part 1: Piper**

Fun Friday had not gone at all the way Piper hoped it would. 

It started off great. She was partying with the people that had become her family, she actually felt good about the way she looked, and for the first time since this whole half-blood nightmare started, she forgot that they were on their way to certain death. 

And oh gods, she was dancing with Jason Grace.

His hand was on her waist, and all his attention was hers. The entire world fell around them. Her entire body felt like it was on fire.

Which is ironic seeing as how not even ten minutes later, she actually was on fire. 

She and Hazel had tried to get the fire out, but no matter how much water they poured on the flames, nothing seemed to help. Next thing she knew, Piper was falling off the Argo II and into the sea. At some point she had lost Leo’s hand after the cold ocean water engulfed them, but she could see him through the murky darkness. He tried to reach out to her, but he looked as exhausted as she felt. 

That was when the mast fell through the water onto them. She felt the hard wood slam against the back of her head, and she closed her eyes slowly as the darkness closed around her.

_____________

She opened her eyes, but Piper wasn’t awake. 

She stood inside a beauty parlor that smelled of harsh hair products and bleach. The room was alive with chatter, loud in her ears. Stylists worked on their clients at different stations, each with plush black seats and a range of beauty care supplies. A young girl sat at the counter in front of her, filing her nails and chatting on the phone. 

“Yes, ma’am, I’m sure. We have no open slots for the next six thousand years.” She sounded bored, putting the file down and twirling her blonde hair between her fingers. “You should have put in an appointment earlier.”

She took the phone away from her ear, popping her gum and looking at me as she rolled her eyes. After a few seconds, she put the phone back to her mouth. “Look, ma’am, I can’t help you. I have your name and number, so I will call you if any openings come up. Thank you for choosing Olympus Beauty, have a great day.” 

With that, she put the phone back on its stand and turned to me. “Sorry about that, love. Do you have an appointment?”

Piper stood speechless, clearing her throat. “I, um, no. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing here.” 

“Hm… I see.” She thumbed through the book in front of her, speaking without looking back up. “Name?”

“Piper McLean. But I’m pretty sure I’m not on the-”

“Ah, Ms. McLean, here you are.” She wheeled over to the wall next to her, picking up a intercom from the wall and speaking into it. “Christine, your next client is here.” 

She pointed towards the stations. “Go down that way, then take a left.”

Piper nodded and did as she was told. Nature spirits and minor gods sat in the seats, some dyeing their hair, others getting it cut. The sound of hair dryers combined with the smell reminded Piper of when she would wait at behind set with her dad while he was getting ready to film. When she took a left, she saw her mother, seated at one of the stations getting her hair curled. She smiled when she saw Piper. 

“Oh my, Piper. Look at your hair...” She shook her head, as if trying to get back on topic. “Please, sit down. We have much to discuss. This is Christine.” Aphrodite gestured to the seat next to her, where a cute green nyad stood. She smiled and waved, then gestured to the seat as well.

Piper sat down as Christine draped her with a black gown to shield her clothes from her hair. “Mom, why am I here? And how am I here?”

“Oh, darling. I made an appointment for this day millennia ago. I usually don’t have to make appointments at all, but of course, I am a special case.” She smiled at Piper through the mirror.

Piper felt her hair being cut, but was far too distracted to pay any attention to it. “That isn’t what I meant mom. Everyone’s in trouble. I’m in trouble. I don’t exactly have time to just get my hair done.”

“And that’s why you’re here, my dear. You’re poor ship is nearly in shambles. You’ll definitely need to stop and make repairs. But that’s only part of the matter.” She held her hand up and the woman doing her hair paused. “No, Alexandria, not too much. Make it look natural.”

“What could be more important than our ship being blown up? Is Jason okay? What about the others?” Suddenly Piper was overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. 

“Oh, they’re all good and fine. Actually, Jason is the other part of why you’re here.”

That sentence sent a chill up Piper’s spine. “What about him?” She dared a peek in the mirror and bit down a gasp. In the short time that she had been sitting there, Christine had cut her hair straight and had already begun to curl it, same as her mother’s.

“You are about to be hurt dearly, Piper. Love is strange and cruel, and it’s plan is not always certain. I brought you here to warn you, and to tell you to be strong. Guard your heart as well as your mind. And be wary of he who holds your heart.” She looked at Piper with pity, as if she could already see the tragedy to come.

“What do you mean? What’s going to happen? Isn’t there any way to prevent it? Anything at all?” Piper felt scared. She had worked so long to achieve even a little bit of something with Jason. What could possibly go down that would jeopardize that?

“Sadly, no. But you’ll come out of this strong. Thank you, Alexandria, that will be all.” The girl working on her hair nodded and bowed before she left. “Now, onto more pressing matters.”

Piper suppressed her emotions and tried to focus on her friends. “Where can we go to fix the ship?”

“You are sailing straight for the coast of Italy. My sons await you there, ready to help. Find them, but be careful. They are a… Colorful bunch.”

She nodded as Christine swirled her chair to face the mirror. By now, her hair was completely curled and even. Again, Christine bowed to her mother before leaving. “What if I can’t find them?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. My ex-husband’s son will help you find them. Just make sure Jason stays on the ship when you go to find them. Do you understand, Piper?”

“Yes, mom.” She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, giving it a more wavy look. 

“Perfect. Good luck, Piper. Remember what I told you. We’ll talk soon.” Aphrodite smiled and blew a kiss at Piper before the salon disappeared around her.

_____________

This time, when she opened her eyes, Piper knew she was awake. How, you may ask? Because she could feel the pain of her injuries washing over her almost immediately. 

Her arm stung from the contrast of the cool washcloth placed over her burns, and her head was pounding. She recognized the ceiling above her as the one in the sick bay, having seen in plenty of times throughout their quest. 

With a groan, she managed to sit up in the bed and survey the empty room around her. Somehow, the ship was still in one piece. The smell of salt and sea wafted through the open porthole on the wall to her right, which meant that they were out of the air. There was a plate of ambrosia on the bedside table off the left side of the bed, which she ate quickly and immediately felt better. Her arm still stung a bit, but the pounding in her head was reduced to a dull beat, which was better than anything else she supposed.

She winced as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Piper leaned against the wall with her good arm as she caught her balance, and immediately, her thoughts went to Leo. Where was he? The room was empty besides her, but that fall would have left him unconscious. She waddled, rather than walked, to the open door and stepped out into the silent hall. 

She listened carefully, but the ship even lacked the normal footsteps from above. The silence was filled only with the creaking of the ship and the sound of the ocean. She continued walking, stopping when she reached Leo’s room. Before she could open it, she heard Jason’s hushed voice on the other side. She only caught bits and pieces. 

“... all my fault. I should have… Now you and… It’s tearing me apart. I miss you.”

She paused and leaned against the door with her bad arm, wincing again, and knocking lightly. She heard a rush of movement, a few moments of shuffling around, before the door opened in front of her. Jason’s face quickly changed from annoyed to shock, then to joy.

He quickly hugged her, only pulling away when he heard Piper groan in pain. “Oh, gods, I’m sorry, Pipes! I’m just so glad you’re okay, I was so scared. You’ve been asleep for days, and Leo’s still not up… You guys are insane, jumping from the ship. If Percy hadn’t caught you guys…”

Piper was in shock. “Did you say days?” 

Jason rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. “Yeah. After Frank and I took down the wyvern, we came back down as the ship plunged into this swirl of water. It cushioned the fall, but didn’t stop it from getting seriously damaged. Percy has been up non-stop making sure we don’t all drown.”

Piper looked past Jason into Leo’s room, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of his bruised face and his lifeless limbs. Jason noticed and opened his arms, to which she gladly stepped into for comfort. He felt warm and safe, but she couldn’t help but think back to what her mother had said. 

Be wary of he who holds your heart.

She shivered at the thought of Jason hurting her. Aphrodite had to be wrong. 

Piper tore herself away from the warmth and comfort of Jason’s arms before wiping her tears. “I had a dream. I mean, I don’t really know if it was a dream. I got my hair done, which was weird.”

Jason finally took notice of the fact that yes, Piper’s hair was indeed curled and cut even. “That’s weird.” He said. “Did you talk with anyone?”

“Yeah, my mom was there. She…” Piper hesitated. Should she tell him? Or would that make things worse between them? She didn’t want to ruin anything, especially not when they finally started making strides towards a relationship. 

“She what?” He replied. Jason’s blonde hair was swept back, exposing his blue eyes that crackled with electricity. Piper couldn't help but watch his lips curl into a smile, elongating the small signature scar on his lip. He was perfect, beautiful even. 

And that’s why Piper decided to lie. “She just told me how to get supplies to fix the ship. Really short and sweet conversation, thank gods.” Piper smiled uneasily, her stomach twisting. She hated lying to him.

But he smiled, completely convinced. “Perfect. Did she say anything about how to get Leo up?”

That’s when they heard a groan, then a voice, from behind them. “What about waking Leo up?”

Both of them turned quickly to see if they were hallucinating. But Leo was, in fact, awake. His curly brown hair was pressed back by his hand as he felt his forehead, which bared a deep purple bruise. His clothes were singed at the ends, and his arms were decorated with scars here and there. But for the most part, he looked pretty decent. 

Piper smiled as she ran to his side, hugging him before pulling away with a stern look. “What were you thinking? Having us jump off the side of the ship like that! We’ve both been out for days!” 

Leo grinned and shrugged. “Well, we’re alive aren’t we? And my ship is still in one piece. Also a good sign.” 

It was Jason’s turn to hug Leo, who hid his face in Leo’s neck like he was afraid Leo would disappear. His hug lasted much longer than Piper’s had, which led to a confused Leo.

“Uh. everything alright there, buddy? You really should buy me dinner before tackling me in bed," Leo replied sarcastically. Jason laughed as he pulled away. 

“I’m not much of a romantic guy. I like going straight for the action.” He smiled down at Leo as he stood up straight. 

Piper could have sworn she saw Leo blushing, but that might just be from the fact that he just got out of a mini-coma. 

They exchanged stories, first about Leo and Piper jumping overboard, then about Jason and Frank decapitating the wyvern. It sounded extremely gruesome, (apparently wyverns have acidic blood), and Leo made sure to pipe in just how much he would have liked to have added the head to the Big House’s entry room back home. 

Soon it came time for the team meeting. As soon as they had all sat down, Piper relayed what happened in her dream, minus the part about Jason, to the rest of the crew. 

“Italy?” Annabeth asked. “Why are her sons there? And which of her sons are we talking about, exactly?”

Piper shook her head. “She didn’t say. All she told me is that’s where we’re going, and that Leo was the one who would find them.”

Percy looked excited. “Sounds like fun. Can I go with you guys? I’ve always wanted to see Italy. Where do you think we’ll be?”

Annabeth glared at him. “That’s not important. Are you sure she didn’t say anything else? Anything that could help us?”

Piper thought on it before replying. “She did say that Jason had to be on the ship when we arrived. But she didn’t say why.”

All eyes turned to Jason, as if he held the key to all the answers. To this, he held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t look at me, I just work here.”

Everyone, beside Percy who grinned, rolled their eyes before looking to Annabeth. “Alright, well, we have spotted land. At least we know where we are. Let’s send out Piper for sure, and Leo, since he knows what we’ll need.” She turned to Leo. “Have you had a chance to check out what we need?”

Leo looked grim. “Well, it doesn’t look good. At all. The mast is completely torn off, and there are major holes everywhere across the hull. Plus the railings and the deck are totally wrecked, but I guess we could go without the railings for a while. I’d need celestial bronze, for sure and wood for the mast. But I’d also need screws of celestial bronze, and there’s nowhere I can get those except Bunker 9.”

Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair, as if pondering. “Maybe that’s where Aphrodite’s sons come in. Let’s just see if we can find out who they are and if they can help us at all. And yes, Percy, you can go with them.”

Percy, who had been raising his hand and squirming through Annabeth’s reply, pumped his fist through the air. 

“Alright then. Has everything been addressed?” Annabeth looked around at each of them, holding Piper’s eyes, as if she could see straight into her thoughts and pluck out what else her mother had told her. If she did have such a power, she didn’t sell Piper out - much to her relief. She nodded and the meeting was adjourned. 

_____________

An hour or so later, they were docked. They raised a few alarms, all of which Piper was able to dissolve with a few words. Percy and Leo had managed to whip up some temporary plugs for the breaches in the hull, but they wouldn’t last long. Piper was in her room getting ready when Jason knocked on the door. 

“Come in.” Her back was turned to him. She sheathed her dagger at her side before turning to face him. She was surprised to see that he looked upset, his gaze glued to the ground and his hands in his pockets. 

She tilted her head at him. “What’s wrong?”

He shrugged, still not meeting her gaze. “I don’t really know. I guess I’m kind of bummed about not going with you. Why would your mom want me here instead?”

Piper shrugged. “She probably knows that something’s going to happen here, and she wants you here to be able to fix it.”

“I guess that could be it. But why me?”

“Jason…” She crossed the room to him and kissed his cheek. “Everything is going to be fine. We’ll be back in a few hours, and then the ship will be fixed, and then-”

“Then we’ll get back on course to our death. Perfect.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Stop being so negative. I’ll be back soon.” Piper hugged him tight before she left to meet Percy and Leo at the dock. She didn't catch the sad gaze he cast at her as she left him in the empty room.

**Chapter 2, Part 2: Leo**

The trio set off through the streets of Western Italy. They walked up the dock, passing a fleet of small fishing boats and yachts with sparkling white lights hanging from the different masts. Night had fallen, so the water was alive with the reflections of the lights from the city. They passed under a wide arch that led into the main city, which, despite it being so late, was alive with the laughter of children and adults alike. The city grew inward, leading up to a hill with something that looked like a lighthouse and a church had a child.

Piper managed to get some information from some locals, and they deduced that they were in the port city of Nettuno. She remained ahead of the boys, which gave them time to talk. After the whole “bombing New Rome” incident, the two had become increasingly close.

“So, how’re things going in Percabeth town?” Leo nudged Percy’s shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. 

Percy shook his head in disapproval, chuckling under his breath. “How many times have I told you not to call us that? It makes us sound like anime characters.”

Leo looked offended. “I’ll have you know that anime characters are the coolest. But that’s beside the point.”

Percy smiled and shrugged. “We’re doing pretty good. Everything isn’t perfect again like it was before all this mess, but that’s just because we’re sailing towards our doom. But I dunno, she’s been obsessed with that laptop the whole trip. It’s like, for the first week of us being back together, she couldn’t leave my side. It was like we were glued at the hip. But now… I don’t really know. Is it all just in my head?”

“Nah bro. Well, kinda. It’s like this. You and her were all lovey dovey when you had your very touching and emotional reunion-”

“I wouldn’t say touching, she flipped me over.”

“-And you weren’t ready for her to stop being all up in your grill after only a week. You probably still feel like you need to make up for lost time, but she feels like the gap is filled. After searching for you for so long, she probably found ways to live without you. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. Now the relationship will be more healthy. It’s like, she can be happy without you, but she’s happier with you. She can take care of herself, and because of that, she’s ready to take care of someone else. Does that make any sense?”

Percy nodded, but the confused look on his face said otherwise. “Y’know, you’re really smart when it comes to this relationship stuff.”

Leo posed like a Marilyn Monroe picture, with his hand at his chest and his eyes facing the sky. “What can I say? I’m a love machine.” He smirked and continued forward, Percy laughing beside him.

Then Leo stopped in his tracks. He was facing a large hotel, which looked incredibly out of place next to the smaller businesses around them. The front was painted a dark red, with vines creeping up the walls and bushes flanking either side of the entrance. The name was written in fancy, red cursive lettering above the automatic doors, reading, _“Amore, Lussuria, Passione”_. Leo’s hands suddenly felt sweaty, and his heart felt like it would beat right out of his chest. His mind went straight to Jason. His eyes, his hair, his chest. Every scenario Leo had ever dreamt up was suddenly implanted into his mind. “There.”

Percy did a double take, looking at him like he was crazy. “Leo, are you sure? It looks like a regular hotel to me.”

“Positive.” His hands began to twitch, the temperature around him steadily rising.

Piper noticed they had stopped and rushed over, staring at Leo with concern. “Is he alright?”

“He says this is the place.” Percy pointed towards the building, but Leo had already bolted through the doors, Percy and Piper sprinting behind him. 

The interior of the hotel was extravagant, decorated with plush white couches and black tables. The ceiling spread out at least fifty feet above them. The walls were painted the same red as outside, but had hanging pictures of different pieces of art, most of which encompassed those floating babies with wings. Leo thought they were called cherubs. 

The lobby was bustling with activity. Off to the left, couples and families were sitting at dinner in a fancy restaurant with live classical music to set the mood. More guests sat on the couches or at the bar to the right. 

They walked to the front desk, greeted by a man with black hair wearing a black suit with a red undershirt. His accent was heavy, and he probably guessed they were foreigners, because he spoke in English. _“Ciao_ , and welcome to _Amore, Lussuria, Passione_. Do you have a reservation?”

Leo was quick to reply. “Of course, yeah. The name’s Leo Valdez. Pretty sure I’m booked for the penthouse suite.”

The man, whose name tag read Adrian, typed away at the keyboard in front of him. Meanwhile, Leo turned to Piper, who looked like she was ready to smack him for being so dumb. He turned around just as Adrian began to speak. 

“Ah, Mr. Valdez. We have down for a meeting in Conference Room #2 on level sixteen in five minutes, but I do not see any room under your name. Would you like to book one now?”

Leo was about to respond with, ‘Yes, I would love to. Do you have those cute little shampoo bottles?’ when Piper cut in. “No, we’re fine. If you could just take us to the conference room, that would be great.”

Adrian smiled and nodded, gesturing towards the elevators. Leo slumped behind, muttering “Party pooper…” under his breath.

They all loaded into an elevator with mirrored walls and a dark red carpet floor. Once they reached the sixteenth floor, the elevator let out a ding, and they were escorted out. The concierge pointed in front of them. “Go straight down and take a left at the end of the hall. The owners are waiting for you there. _Arrivederci_ , and have a fantastic day.”

Then they were alone in the silent, slightly creepy hallway. 

“This is dangerous guys. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.” Piper said nervously as they walked forward slowly. The carpet beneath them was decorated with black swirls and golden apples. Curved lights in the shape of seashells gave the hall a dim glow, which added to the incredibly creepy atmosphere. It reminded Leo of a haunted house.

“Come on, Beauty Queen. Your mom said we need their help. What could possibly go wrong?” 

Still, they hesitated in front of the doors. Leo wouldn’t admit it, but he was nervous. His hands were sweating like crazy, causing him to wipe them across his jeans every so often. His thoughts were still alive with thoughts that he would normally be able to suppress. So he tried to distract himself by memorizing every detail around him.

The double doors were made of dark wood with indents forming two rectangles next to each other in a repeated pattern. The same swirls from the carpet created a border around the shapes in bright red paint. If he looked closely, Leo could make out the images of different scenes within the rectangles. One of them showed that famous scene of Aphrodite coming out of the sea on a big seashell, and another showed three of those cherub-babies flying around and shooting people with arrows.

Piper must have noticed them to, and she had no doubt come to the same conclusion Leo had. “Oh no…” 

By the time they had noticed, it was too late. Percy had turned the knob and opened the doors. The sight inside was enough to make them all gasp.

Three teenage boys, obviously related, sat at the far end of a small black table, like one you would find in a cafe. The one in the middle, who seemed to be the leader, was dressed in dark blue jeans and a white winter coat. His eyes seemed to look right into his mind and remind Leo of every crush he had ever had.

The one on the right wore bright red jeans and a black long sleeve shirt, and was resting on one hand and staring off, like he was in his own little world. His eyes burned with passion, like those actors from the Spanish soap operas that had just confessed their love to the protagonist. He looked in Leo’s direction once, stared him up and down, then sighed contently before looking away again.

But the one on the left got his attention the most. He wore black jeans with a leather jacket, and addressed him with lustful eyes. A red cotton scarf cascaded down his body, exposing, rather than covering, a black v-neck that showed off his chest and collarbones. He twisted the red ruby ring on his finger that was shaped like a heart. It looked like it had several cracks spider-webbing across the surface. All the boys had the same dark caramel skin, with eyes that seemed to glow a hazel brown. 

Would it be a bad time to mention just how tight Leo’s jeans were getting?

The one in the middle finally spoke. “ _Leonardo Valdez_. It is good to finally meet you. Please, all of you, sit down.” The way he said Leo’s name sent shivers up his spine. His accent was like an orgy in his ears.

“Uh, yes, that would be me. Hello.” He said as he took a seat, Piper and Percy sitting beside him.

“Hi, I’m Piper. Nice to meet you, too.” Piper most likely introduced herself like that in an attempt to draw the attention away from Leo. But all three of the boys kept their gaze on him.

The boys combined gaze on him was definitely the source of his sweaty hands and jumbled thoughts. He got lost in their eyes, like his entire body was submerged in a hot cocoa bath that took all his troubles away and replaced them with lust and power and desire.

He must have been staring, because Piper had to shake him out of his trance. “Hm, what?”

“As I was saying, I’m Eros. I’m so glad we finally get to meet face to face, _Leonardo._ ” He extended his hand and grabbed Leo’s, bringing it to his lips and placing a small kiss to the skin. Leo just about died on the spot. 

That’s when Percy made his intro. “Hi, Percy Jackson, great to meet you. Do you wanna kiss my hand too, or is that just Leo?” 

Eros looked at Piper first, up and down, thinking a bit before turning to Leo. “She doesn’t know yet, does she? Oh, what fun! I love a good story. And you,” he said to Percy. “You are definitely in an interesting situation. You feel unloved and abandoned, which is strange given that you’ve just been reunited with your love. You think it’s your fault, and it very well may be.” 

_"Fratello,”_ said the one on the left, “Where are your manners? Can’t we get through introductions before you start complicating things?” 

He turned to Leo, his eyes full of lust and pure want. It seemed as though he looked right through Leo, into his deepest, darkest desires. He grinned mischievously before speaking. “No matter how interesting their thoughts may be.”

“Oh, you’re right, Himeros! My apologies, demigods. It’s good to see you all. Even you, Piper McLean.”

Piper looked offended, but Leo was too entranced to notice. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The one on the right grinned. “We mean no disrespect, _bambino._ It’s just that our mother’s mortal children so often despise us, considering we are her favorites.”

“Now, now, Pothos, that’s not very nice. As true as it may be, we need to act kindly towards our half-siblings.” Eros smiled at them, keeping his gaze on Leo. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”

“Right.” Percy added. “Your mother said that you would help us out. Our ship has been completely damaged, and we need some help getting it back into one piece. We just need some wood and-”

Eros laughed, his brothers grinning beside him. “Oh, Perseus! You are a riot. We know all about your ship, no need to explain. Oh, I’m so excited for what’s to come for you. Your friend, Nico, oh, what fun! Has he told you that-”

“Eros! This is not the time, nor the place to be discussing such matters. You’ll get your chance with the di Angelo boy soon enough.” The one on the right, Pothos, interrupted him, but Percy was already hooked. 

“Let’s just focus on my ship, yeah?” Leo exclaimed, trying desperately to change the topic. 

Eros giggled. “Oh, Leonardo… You’re so interesting. So smart. So handsome…” He stared at him for a moment before continuing. “Of course we can help. But…”

And there’s a catch. Of course there’s a catch. Jokes on them, he thought, I don’t have anything to give. “But what?”

“But we want to help you even further.” Pothos smirked and twirled his curly hair between his fingers. “If you’re interested.”

“Leo…” Percy warned, but Leo already knew. If a god offered to help for no reason, that means it’s a trap. 

But for some reason, Leo replied with, “What kind of help?”

Eros smirked at him and leaned forward on his palm. “We know about the… Predicament in your love life.”

 

“We’ve seen the way you’ve suffered. We can take all that away.” Himeros smiled in his direction, palming the red ruby ring on his index finger.

Piper chimed in. “Thank you for your offer, but if we could just get the parts we need and-” 

“I’ll accept your help.” Leo’s voice sounded desperate and full of pain, which was strange given his usual attitude. He didn’t know exactly what came over him, but if his feelings for Jason disappeared, everything could go back to the way they used to be.

“Leo, what are you doing?” Percy looked at him like he was crazy, and he probably was. There’s no doubt that this “help” would backfire and get him or someone else killed. 

“I know what I’m doing.” No he doesn’t. 

“Excellent.” Himeros smiled and snapped his fingers. The red ring appeared on Leo’s finger, the same one that had been on the god’s hand moments before. 

But Leo didn’t feel any different. He still liked Jason. Still thought about his blonde hair and his sparkling blue eyes and his-

“It didn’t do anything!” 

Eros snapped his fingers next. “You’ll find the supplies you need on your ship. Now leave. We have another meeting in five minutes. We do look forward to seeing this play out.”

“Good luck with your relationship troubles, Perseus.” Pothos said, sighing happily.

“And you as well, Ms. McLean.” Himeros smirked at her, a dash of mischief in his eyes.

The three gods spoke as one as they disappeared in a cloud of pink mist. _“Arrivederci, Leonardo.”_

And then the room was silent. Percy’s face was still in shock, his surprised lips forming a perfect circle. Piper looked at the empty seats in front of them with confusion.

And Leo was the first to speak. “... Well that sucked.”

_____________

After the incident at the hotel, the trio headed back to the ship. Thankfully, Eros had kept his word about their supplies. They found everything they needed back in the engine room on the ship. Once they had gotten back, Leo set off to work straight away, asking Piper to fill in the group for him, but to leave out the part about his love life. 

“We’re talking about that later. Just fyi.” She looked at him skeptically, still confused and probably angry about their conversation with the love gods. 

Leo rolled his eyes but eventually agreed. He tried to focus on his work in a vain attempt to get his mind off of everything that had happened. Why had Eros offered him help and then just given him this dumb ring? Which, by the way, is very distracting. Every time he looked down at his work, the glimmering surface of the ring got his attention and threw him off. Eventually, he gave up and just stared at the thing.

It was definitely cracked. Some were small, but two or three were bigger, spreading across the length of the ruby. It glowed red from within and pulsed like a heartbeat. It didn’t hurt or anything, despite the fact that it didn’t seem to come off. The longer he looked, the more entranced he came. It was like looking into the eyes of Eros again. He lost all sense of time and his surroundings. His mind was flooded with thoughts of Jason Grace. Every time he trailed off in his thoughts, his mind found a way to bring it back to Jason. 

Before he knew it, the sun had begun to rise, and Piper knocked on the metal wall of the engine room. Leo fell out of his seat, papers and tools flying around him. He looked up from beneath one of his designs for some kind of indestructible metal and frowned. “Beauty Queen, you scared the Hades out of me.”

She giggled, which was very un-Piper-like of her. She offered her hand to him, which he gladly took, and stood up, waving off the clutter for future Leo to worry about. 

“It’s breakfast time.” She said, as if it was obvious. Though it probably was, considering that the sun shone brightly through the portholes on the walls. “Annabeth has called an team meeting together to discuss the damage and the schedule for the next few days. But Jason wanted me to tell you to meet him in his cabin, mumbling something about how much of an idiot he is.” 

Leo rolled his eyes and sighed. “When is that boy gonna stop being my number one problem. Thanks Pipes.” He yawned and walked out towards Jason’s room, not bothering to knock since he was expected.

Jason stood behind one of those changing walls, like the ones the princesses would use back in the olden days. His purple shirt and a pair of blue jeans hung across the top, and the shirt disappeared as Jason pulled it on. Leo felt a slight blush grow on his cheeks, and he could have sworn the ring on his fingers glowed brighter than before. Putting this aside, he sat down on the bed and flopped down onto his back.

“Leo?” Jason called from behind the curtain.

“Nope, sorry. Leo’s on vacation in literally anywhere other than here. Please leave a message after the beep.”

Jason chuckled, the jeans disappeared too now, followed by pj’s being thrown into the laundry basket next to the curtain. “How are you? We haven’t talked since you left.” 

It was then that Jason stepped out from behind the curtain. Leo stared at him, suddenly filled with adrenaline. Jason’s purple shirt gripped his form nicely, showing off the sculpted abs beneath. His jeans weren’t baggy, but they weren’t too tight, leaving just enough for the imagination. And his eyes, Gods his eyes. They looked at him with such intensity that Leo’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Leo? You okay?” Jason crossed the room to him and rested his hand on his shoulder. Leo gasped, his body suddenly filled with warmth. The ring on his finger glowed brightly, and Leo’s eyes took on the same light. 

Suddenly, Leo flipped Jason onto the bed beneath them and pressed their lips together hard. He moved on top of him, hands traveling up and down his body in a frenzy. Jason, too startled at first to respond, laid there, his lips moving against Leo’s on instinct. Seconds later, he threw Leo off, scrambling back across the bed and landing with a thud on the floor, his head smacking hard against the desk beside him. 

Leo crawled across the bed like an animal, causing Jason to roll across the floor towards the door. He stood up and reached quickly for the knob, only to be spun and pressed up against the door. 

He was face to face with Leo, who had pinned Jason’s hands above his head and had begun sucking on his neck, biting down hard. Jason let out a sound that sounded embarrassingly close to a moan, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind, focusing entirely on getting Leo off of him. 

Leo was muttering against his skin wildly and pulled hard on Jason’s hair, eliciting yet another noise from his lips. “Gods, you taste like heaven! I can make you feel great, Jason, oh, you’ll love every moment, and the sounds you’ll make-” 

“Leo!” He shouted and pushed him off and flung the door open, running into the kitchen and hiding behind Annabeth like his life depending on it. 

Everyone looked at him like he’d gone crazy. He probably did looked insane. Jason’s hair stood up at odd angles and his shirt was nearly ripped off his body. No one understood what had caused it, and they all had stopped eating to watch the strange scene unfold. It wasn’t until Leo came running out of Jason’s room, his eyes glowing bright red and his lips wet with saliva, that everyone pulled out their weapons. 

“Jason, I need you! I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without your touch, your voice, oh gods!” Leo looked around frantically, finally spotting him behind Annabeth and making a run towards them.

Thankfully, Percy was the first to act, grabbing some spare rope from the counter and lassoing it around Leo’s waist like he was cattle. He pulled hard on the rope, but not hard enough to hurt. Frank and Hazel jumped to action, grabbing Leo’s arms and holding him down. 

“Piper!” Annabeth shouted. 

With no directions needed, Piper dashed in front of Leo and placed her hands on either side of his face, putting all her power into one, sweet word. _“Sleep!”_ The glow instantly died, retreating back into the ring as Leo’s unconscious body slumped back against the weight of his friends.


	3. Jason Gets Tag Teamed By The Power Couple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, sorry for the delay in this chapter but it's another long one. Lots of plot development in this chapter but not to worry, there's a bit of fluff in there. Sorry to say this but I actually don't have any concrete update schedule, but I promise I won't go a month without updating. Again, please leave comments on how you felt about it as well as anything you might wanna see. Oh, and any typos or mistakes. Thank you and enjoy!
> 
> PS. I'll be posting some other works really soon, so keep an eye out for those!

**Chapter 3, Part 1: Jason**

 

Today was definitely interesting, Jason had to admit.

The only thing on his mind all day had been Piper. After their talk this morning, Jason spent the remainder of the day in the training room, hacking at the dummies and sending them flying across the room. It wasn’t until Annabeth called him for lunch that he realized how exhausted he was. He slumped up against the wall as she walked in, squinting as she handed him a water bottle. 

She slid down beside him. “Everything okay?”

Jason grabbed the bottle and sighed as he took a long sip. “Kind of. I don’t really know… Just, I feel like I’m losing Piper before we’ve even started dating. Not to mention I made out with my best friend about an hour ago.”

Annabeth bit her lip, avoiding his gaze. “I’m sorry you’re stuck in the middle of all this. But right now, the best thing to do is to work through this mess. Helping Leo needs to be our top priority right now.”

Leave it to Annabeth to be the responsible one. Jason sighed as she stood up and offered him her hand, which he took reluctantly. They met up with the others, minus Leo, for the emergency meeting to discuss the elephant in the room. 

“Let’s begin.” Annabeth announced after everyone took their seats. “Piper, tell us what happened once you met Eros. And don’t leave anything out.”

Piper nodded. “Well, they started talking about love first, big surprise. They said something to Leo about me not knowing something, but didn’t say what.”

“Don’t forget what they said about Nico.” Percy interrupted. “They made it sound like they had something big planned.”

“Then they started talking about the ship and agreed to give us the supplies. And we were about to go when they offered Leo help with his love life. Next thing I knew, Leo was wearing a big red ring and then they were gone.” Piper sighed and put her head in her hands.

Annabeth replied quickly. “Okay, so we know that Leo’s, um, urges are caused by the ring. It must be like Cupid’s arrows, making him fall in love with someone.” 

“Yeah, but Leo didn’t seem like he was in love with me. It was more like…” Jason trailed off.

“Like he wanted to straight up jump your bones.” Percy finished. “Anywho, it isn’t Eros’s ring that caused it. It was the other guy. His name was like Imrose or something.”

“Himeros. And the other one was Pothos. I’ve never heard of them before.” said Piper.

“Himeros is the god of sexual desire. And Pothos is the god of passion. They both emerged with Aphrodite from the sea. Even though they weren’t technically born, they’re still considered her sons.” Annabeth said, matter-of-factly. 

“So,” said Percy, “Leo’s basically a walking sex bomb.” 

Annabeth glared at him. “Look, our top priority is getting this ship up and running. And since Leo is out of commission, I’ve written out a list of tasks for everyone to attend to.” She handed out six sheets of paper around the table, giving everyone time to look them over. “As you can see, someone will be posted outside Leo’s room 24/7. We’ll rotate every few hours. Everyone understand what they have to do?”

They all looked at each other around the table, with no complaints arising from anyone. With that, Annabeth nodded and hit the table with her palm. “Meeting adjourned. 

_____________

Jason had been assigned to guard Leo at 3 o’clock.

First, however, he had to clean up the deck, help put up the new mast, and construct the crow’s nest. Then after that, he went down to the lower decks and helped patch up some of the breaches in the hull, with Annabeth’s help, of course.

Jason was holding up a sheet of metal for Annabeth to weld when he spoke. “Hey Annabeth?”

After a few more seconds of heat and sparks, Annabeth shut off the welder and turned to him as she pushed her helmet up. “What’s up?”

“Can you tell me more about the gods that Leo met?”

Annabeth’s eyes shown with a bit of confusion, but she continued anyway. “Well, Eros is the most popular of the three, you know, being Cupid and all. But Himeros and Pothos have been around for just as long. People usually just associate lust and passion with love, so the other two are left out most of the time.”

“But they’re not the same thing?” Jason asked as he began hammering some wood into place.

“Technically no. They have similar powers, I guess. But they all inflict different feelings. But I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

“So basically, we’re screwed.” Jason sighed in defeat.

“Hey, don’t say that. I have some books in my room that might mention something about this ring. Until then… Well, we just have to come up with a temporary solution. But right now, I need you to go scrub the poop-deck.” Annabeth smiled as she slid her helmet down and continued welding.

_____________

And then, finally, 3 o’clock rolled around, and Jason took his place on the small wooden chair outside of Leo’s room. Luckily, he was accompanied by Percy, and Jason was grateful for the company. If he was alone, he would be forced to think about all the problems that swam through his head. But instead, he sat across from Percy, thumb wrestling. 

“So, how’re things with you and Piper? Y’know, after the whole Leo thing?” Percy asked as he swept his thumb down and up in an attempt to pin down Jason’s thumb.

“Oh, just great. Everything’s perfect. In fact, she asked me out _because_ Leo tried to shove his tongue down my throat.” Jason managed to quickly move his thumb to the side and bend it back enough to avoid the attack.

“Really? I thought that woulda been a dealbreaker for her.” Percy mumbled, his concentration focused on winning.

“No, not really, Percy. No girl wants to be with a guy after she watches him make out with another dude.” Jason rolled his eyes, giving Percy a temporary advantage.

“Sorry again about that. It seemed like you two were finally hitting it off. Ah-ha!” Percy called out in triumph as he pinned down Jason’s thumb.

Resigning to his defeat, Jason sighed and sat back against his chair. “We were. Now everything’s so complicated, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back on track.”

“That’s rough, buddy.” 

“Tell me about it. How long did it take you and Annabeth to get together?” 

“Five years.” Percy smiled and took a swig of his water in victory.

“That long?!” Jason’s stomach seemed to drop at the thought of waiting five years to be with Piper, given they survive that long. 

“Mhm. It didn’t really seem that long, to be honest. Every moment we spent together just kinda felt like we were already dating. But hey, don’t worry about it too much. We kissed for the first time _four years_ after we met, and you and Piper have already kissed right?”

Jason nodded before Percy continued. “Ya see? You guys are already farther along than Annabeth and I were. You two will be dating before you know it. And don’t worry about the whole Leo thing. She knows how this love magic works better than anyone. I don’t think she blames you or Leo for what happened. If anything, she’s more worried for both of you than anything else.”

“You really think so?” Jason looked up at him expectantly. 

Percy nodded at him. “Yeah, I do.” He patted Jason on the back and stood up. “I’m gonna go grab something to drink. You want anything?”

“Just some more water. And brownies. Lots of brownies.” 

“I like the way you think, Grace.” Percy smiled at him before he walked down the hall. 

And just as Percy turned the corner, Jason heard a small thud come from the room behind him. 

His head snapped towards the source of the sound, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. He knows what Annabeth said. _‘Whatever you do, don’t go in that room,’_ with her blonde ponytail bouncing around. But Jason can’t help being curious.

Jason looked around the room and made sure no one was around, or even close enough to be within ears reach. All he wanted to do was make sure Leo was okay. After everything that had happened to him in the past few days, Jason wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he knew Leo had been hurt on his watch.

Before he could think too much on it, Jason found himself easing open the door ever-so-quietly. The sight in front of him was not at all what he had expected.

Leo was on the floor, snoozing away with his face pressed hard against the wood floor and his butt straight up in the air. It was so incredibly cliche, Jason felt like he was in a cartoon, but he couldn’t help but smile. 

Jason crossed the room and knelt down beside his friend, making sure he wasn’t harmed. He moved to pick Leo up, but the second their skin made contact, Leo’s eyes shot open and out of his mouth came the most erotic sound Jason had heard in his entire life. 

A small blush appeared on Leo’s cheeks, and Jason felt his face grow hot as well. Leo quickly scrambled back, hitting his head on the bedpost and muttering a curse as he rubbed the back of his head.

Jason instantly leaned forward to help. “Are you oka-”

“Fine!” Leo interrupted. “I’m just peachy, one hundred and thirty thousand percent _perfecto._ What’s up?”

Leo was clearly not okay. He was much more fidgety than usual, his hands moving a million miles per hour to fix his hair, adjust his shirt, pick at the floorboards. His eyes were open wide, with pupils so big that it made Leo look like he just finished his thirteenth cappuccino. Jason could have sworn he saw a faint hint of a red glow dancing in Leo’s eyes that made his body feel relaxed. He leaned forward unconsciously, licking his lips and shifting his weight onto his hands in front of him.

He quickly shook himself out of his trance and stood up, offering his hand to Leo, who looked from Jason’s eyes to his hand and back again, as though it may bite him. Reluctantly, he reached out and slid his hand into Jason’s, biting his lip as he stood up. He was quick to pull away once he was steady on his feet. 

Leo let out a shaky breath. “Th-Thanks…” 

“Anytime.” The silence that followed did nothing to help lessen the awkwardness of the situation. “So… How are you feeling? Pipes really did a number on you. You slept for seven hours.”

“I’m fine. Feel great. Never ever felt better.” Leo smiled and rubbed his arm, grazing his nails across his skin softly. 

“I’m glad…” Jason looked down at his feet, shifting his weight before continuing. “Look, Leo, we should talk about-”

“Jason!” Percy shouted, quickly racing into the room with two water bottles and a plate stacked high with brownies. “Is Leo okay? You aren’t supposed to be in here without someone else.”

 _Leave it to Jackson to ruin the moment._ “We’re okay, Perce. I heard a noise, but Leo just fell onto the floor. He’s feeling a lot better and everything’s back to normal, so there’s no need to have supervision. Right Leo?”

Leo looked at Jason, then at Percy and nodded quickly. “Yepperoni. I’m all better. In fact, I’m even better than better, I’m new and improved and ready to work.” Leo strapped on his belt from the table and quickly stormed out of the room.

Jason looked down the hall after him and sighed. Meanwhile, Percy held up the plate in his hand. “Brownies?”

_____________

Jason didn’t see Leo again until that night. 

Although, that isn’t entire true. Jason did see Leo around the ship sometimes between the scene in Leo bedroom and dinner. But whenever he would turn the corner, Leo always did the same thing: look into the nearest room, pretend there was something important he needed to do in said room, and then dash in like his life depended on it. 

The whole scenario made Jason sigh. He was tired of not talking to Leo, weird moaning whenever they touched be damned. He knew that the diaper trio from hell had done something to Leo’s head, and Jason, frankly, was pissed. That’s why he went to see Annabeth that night before dinner. 

He knocked on her door exactly twenty minutes before they were scheduled to have their next meeting/meal. “Annabeth?” He called, knocking again, harder this time. 

He heard a gasp, followed by shuffling and hushed whispering. “Just a second!” She called out.

A bit more shuffling and a thump later, Annabeth opened the door and smiled, leaning against the frame and fixing her hair. “Jason! What’s up?”

“Hey, is everything okay in there? Is this a bad time? I can come back later.” He gestured behind him and was about to make a run for it when she responded.

“No, no, I’m great. Come in.” She stepped aside and waved for him to come in. He sat on the bed and looked around. You’d think for a daughter of Minerva (Minerva/Athena same difference, shut up) she would be tidy. But books and scrolls were scattered across her desk and some in a heap on the beside her bed, as though they had been shoved off the side. Her windows were open, so her room smelt like the sea and was brightly lit. All the rooms on the ship were structurally the same, but Annabeth’s room seemed like a completely different world compared to his own.

She closed the door behind her and sat on the other edge of the bed. “What can I do for you, Grace?”

He cleared his throat and pulled a bit at his collar. “Well, I was just wondering if you had found any new information about Himeros’ ring.”

She raised her eyebrow suspiciously. “You know that we always share information at the meetings. Why are you coming to me personally instead of just waiting?”

“Oh, well, I mean, I was just really curious, I guess. This is a really interesting case, y’know.” He chuckled lightly. Was it getting hot in here?

Annabeth smiled at him, nodding. “I see.” She crossed the room and gathered up a few books and handed them to Jason. “Everything I found so far is from these books. I haven’t read them all yet, so maybe you’ll find something I missed.”

Jason nodded gratefully. Before he could thank her, a small thud resonated through the room, causing him to frown. “Did you hear that?”

Annabeth was quick to reply, nodding and waving her hands. “Yeah, I think that it came from the engine room! Leo is back to work, after all.” She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. 

Jason nodded, still not entirely convinced. But he thanked her for the books and said his goodbyes, leaving in a rush to get some reading done before dinner.

Once the door closed behind him, Percy came tumbling out of the closet, barely containing his laughter. “Do you think he caught on?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Who knows? You sounded like a herd of elephants. Now come here. We have a little time before dinner starts.”

 

**Chapter 3, Part 2: Leo**

 

Leo’s day was a blur. It felt more like a dream than reality.

First of all, Leo felt like he’d been hit by a bus. His head hurt, his skin was way too hot, and he could not take his mind off of Jason Grace, which, in case you’re wondering, makes it incredibly difficult to work.

After their incident in his room, Leo made a run for the engine room. Don’t ask why, because he didn’t have an answer. He just felt safe and at home, surrounded by tools and steam and the sound of gears turning. It eased his nerves. 

But even that didn’t help completely. Every time he tried to work out something, his mind went straight to Jason. Working on the hull? Bam, Jason’s hair. Recalibrating the control system? Sorry, buddy, you have to think about Jason’s eyes. He couldn’t even eat without eventually turning to something to do with Jason.

He finally resigned himself to it. He let his mind be flooded with everything he had fought to suppress, even the events of the previous night. 

Yes, Leo did in fact remember everything that had happened, but that doesn’t mean he did it intentionally. The whole experience reminded him of the incident with the eidolons. Except instead of blowing up all of New Rome, Leo had made out with his best friend, which in his opinion, was even worse than the former.

Leo knew what had happened. He had been tricked by Himeros. Damn those beautiful Italian assholes.

What had he really expected? He knew that something like this would happen. But instead of being smart and thinking things through, he gave in to his desires like a huge dumb-dumb.

Surprisingly, he found that had managed to do quite a lot during the day. Although it wasn’t nearly as much as he could have accomplished normally, it was enough to get them off the ground. It was just after he had gotten the ship into the air that Piper came to get him for dinner.

“Hey Beauty Queen. Have you come to hit me or help me? Either one works.” 

She rolled her eyes at him, climbing up the stairs and sitting on the balcony that flanked the control center. “You really think I would go out of my way to beat you up, Valdez? Besides, I must have already done some psychological damage when I knocked your lights out.” 

Leo grinned, but almost immediately dropped his gaze, along with his smile. “I’m really sorry, Piper. You know I wouldn’t intentionally do anything to hurt you, or Jason. I don’t even know why all of this is happening.”

She bit her lip and looked at him. “I do.”

Leo’s blood ran cold, and he felt himself begin to sweat. His voice cracked as he replied. “You do?”

Piper nodded. “Yeah. It’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?” 

He mumbled his response. “I didn’t think so…”

“The Erotes are messing with us. They’re notorious tricksters, plus they hate me because I’m Aphrodite’s child. Making my life harder is like a soap opera to them. I should have listened to my mom. She warned me about them.”

Leo sighed in relief and nodded. “You think so?”

“Well, yeah. There’s no other explanation, right?”

“Exactly, right. That’s just what I was thinking.” He looked down at the imaginary watch on his wrist and gasped. “Well would you look at the time? The meeting’s about to start! C’mon Beauty Queen, we’re gonna be late.”

_____________

They weren’t late. In fact, they were early. 

Annabeth and Percy were nowhere to be found and Hazel was off looking for Frank. The only person already at the table was, of course, Jason.

His nose was in some kind of book, which was weird because Jason was _not_ the reading type. But that’s not what Leo was thinking about. As soon as he walked in, the room became sharper and was filled with the smell of brownies and something that can only be described as Jason. His senses felt like they were on fire, like every molecule in the room was vibrating at a million miles per hour. His mind was flooded with everything Jason, which he had just become accustom to, so you’d think it wouldn’t be a problem. But Jason was all he could think about, so much so that he couldn’t function. It was all he could do not to jump Jason’s bones right there.

He must have sensed Leo’s presence because he looked up from his book, a blush spreading across his cheeks. “Hey Piper. Hi Leo.”

“Hey Jason.” Piper smiled and sat next to Jason.

But Leo stood firmly in place. That voice, _gods,_ it gave him the jitters. He shook his head, letting go the breath he had been involuntarily holding. Sitting on the opposite side of the table, he waved to Jason and began nibbling on an apple from the basket in front of him. 

The silence was deadly. Leo could feel each second like a weight on his shoulders. If it weren’t for Piper, the awkwardness would have killed him.

“Whatcha reading there, Jay?” She rested her head on his shoulder and peeked a look at the book in front of him, and for a second, Leo felt the overwhelming urge to slap her.

Pushing those thoughts from his mind, he stared at the cover of the book. It was brown leather with some letters in Greek on the front. Whatever it was about, Jason seemed incredibly interested in it. 

“Hopefully something that could help us find a cure for Leo’s… Predicament.” Jason looked up and smiled at him, sending a rush of chills down Leo’s spine. 

“A-Any luck?” Leo stammered, digging his nails into his palms. 

“Nothing yet. There aren’t any stories of any of the Erotes except Eros. All I know is that their power is all linked, so if one of them casts a curse or a love charm, the person affected cycles through the different stages.”

“So Leo should start to exhibit different symptoms sometime soon?” Hazel asked as she entered with Frank. 

Jason nodded. “There are triggers for each emotion: love, lust, and passion.”

“Meaning we could have another outburst like the other day at any moment.” Frank concluded. 

All eyes shifted to Leo, who was already feeling embarrassed from the topic alone. “Not to worry folks, I’m feeling one-hundred and thirty thousand percent fine!” 

But he wasn’t feeling fine. In fact, his heart ached, like it was weighed down by dumbells. His stomach felt empty and sick, and his eyes darted across the room in an attempt to avoid eye contact at all cost. 

On the outside, he seemed perfectly fine. No one would have suspected anything if Leo hadn’t spoken so quickly. 

“Not that we doubt you or anything, but we should probably keep an eye on you. Just in case.” Annabeth said as she took her seat at the head of the table, with Percy to her right. 

“Oh, thank you for joining us, lovebirds. I’m sure it’s a coincidence that you’re late and that you arrived at the same time. Not like I’ve got a mystical ring of a sex god on my finger.” Leo said, with a hint of anger behind his voice. 

The two blushed and shot twin glares in Leo’s direction. “Jason,” Annabeth said, desperate to change the topic. “Does it say anything about what those triggers might be?”

“It says that they’ll be psychological triggers that are unique to each individual. But for the most part, they should be something that the person has dreamt up or thought of before. It doesn’t say anything about people affected who _don’t_ have any past romantic feelings for the other person.” 

Annabeth turned and looked at Leo. And her eyes seemed to speak to him. She had read that book, and the one thing she remembered is that the magic can only work if the person it’s cast on has existing feelings for someone. She knew Leo’s secret, and Leo knew that she knew. No doubt she was wondering why Leo hadn't told Jason yet, given the circumstances.

And yet she didn’t say anything about it. 

“Keep reading.” She said, eyes still on Leo. “Let me know if you find anything else.” 

“Actually, I did find something.” Jason replied. Piper then eagerly leaned towards him, head on his shoulder, as she read the book in his hands. 

The effect was immediate. Leo felt the pure raw hatred pump through his body. How dare she touch Jason? And why was Jason even _letting_ her? He felt the incredible urge to burn her to a crisp, friendship be damned. 

“Um, Leo?” Frank said next to him, concern and fear in his tone. 

Leo broke his deadly glare and looked over at him. Was that smoke in front of them? 

He looked down at his hand, which had burned its outline into the wood table. He stared at it, images of his childhood flashing through his mind of a different table in a different time, bearing the same imprint, only smaller. 

The ring on his finger glowed a dark crimson, and suddenly, Leo stiffened in his seat. His eyes glowed with the same light for a few seconds before the light shrunk into his irises and settled. 

Leo looked around until he set his sight on Jason. His lips curled into a smirk and he rested his head on his fist, staring dreamily at the boy across from him. 

“Leo?” This time it was Hazel who spoke, setting her hand on his shoulder before quickly pulling away with a yelp. Steam rose from the spot her hand had been moments before. 

Unphased, Leo sighed happily. “Jason, has anyone ever told you how incredible your eyes are? Or how cute that little scar on your lip is?” 

Jason only blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “L-Leo?”

Leo sighed and closed his eyes. “You know, my name on your lips gives me butterflies like you wouldn’t believe.” 

Percy leaned over and whispered to Annabeth. “I think it’s safe to assume that anger might be a trigger.” 

She shook her head. “No, did you see that look in his eyes before he changed? He was thinking about something. A memory.”

“Jason, what do you say we take a walk? Then maybe we could look up at the stars and talk all night.” Leo smiled at him, drawing circles in the table. 

“I-uh, well, Leo-”

“He would love to!” Piper interrupted. “Jason, go with him.”

Jason looked at her like she’d gone crazy, but Piper had slipped a little charmspeak into her voice. So he rose and waited for Leo at the stairs, who raced over and grabbed his hand as they walked out.

Once they were gone, all eyes were on Piper. “I know what you’re all thinking, but you saw the way he reacted when I was just _touching_ Jason. We need to keep him calm unless we want the entire ship to go down in flames. Again.”

 

**Chapter 3, Part 3: Jason**

 

Now that he was outside, it dawned on Jason that Piper had forced him out. 

At the time, he found it completely normal that he left with Leo, who’s fingers now intertwined with his own. Leo was staring up at the cloudless sky, alive with the brilliance only the stars could offer. He was telling Jason about his plans for their future, going on and on about how they could leave all this behind and start over. 

“I think I’d open a mechanics shop, like my mom. And you could finally go to college and become a teacher. Physics, right?” Leo stopped and looked at Jason for an answer, receiving a nod in response.

“Yeah, physics.” He replied. How did Leo know that was his ideal major? Surely Jason had told him in the past. But how had he remembered it? He was jostled from his thoughts as Leo leaned his head onto Jason’s shoulder, which felt very similar to what Piper had done only moments ago.

Leo smiled before speaking. “Do you like the stars? My mom always told me they were my ancestors, watching over us. She would always point to the brightest one and say, ‘You see that, _mijo?_ That’s your _papi,_ always looking out for you.’ I mean, now I know that it isn’t true, but the memory makes me smile. That’s one of the only times she brought up dad at all. But when she did talk about him, you could tell she really loved him.” 

He was baffled. This was the most he had heard Leo talk about his mom. Everyone knew it was a sensitive topic for him, so no one ever asked. He stopped and looked down at Leo, who turned towards him and looked back. His eyes were still a warm, soft brown. The comforting fire behind them still burned bright, but his pupils flickered with that crimson light, the only sign that Leo was not himself. And yet, this is the most comfortable Jason had seen Leo, well, ever. 

Jason watched as a light blush covered Leo’s cheeks. “What is it?” 

He shrugged a bit as he continued to stare at Leo. He didn’t even notice as he inched forward ever-so-slowly, or that Leo was doing the same. Not until their lips met.

But this kiss wasn’t like the one he had received the other day. No, that one had been wild, hungry, and full of lust. This was soft and sweet. Leo’s lips moved slowly against Jason’s, as if he was taking in every moment. His hands rose up onto Jason’s shoulders, and so he instinctively placed his own on Leo’s hips. And there they stayed for five, six, seven seconds. 

Jason had been kissed before by Piper. But that compared to this was completely different. Leo was so fluid in his movements; it felt as though he had channeled his entire being into his lips, offering himself to Jason completely.

Is this what it felt like to be kissed by someone who truly loved you?

At last Leo pulled away, looking up once more into Jason’s electric blue eyes. And as Jason stared back, he saw that faint crimson light disappear. All that he saw was pure Leo.

“I-I’m sorry!” Leo exclaimed as he pulled away in a fuss. “It was the ring, I swear! I should… I should go.” 

With that, he turned and ran down the stairs, leaving Jason with his arms out, his lips warm, and his heart beating fast in his chest.


	4. Leo Has Sex with a Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy heck I'm so sorry about that mini hiatus. I totally had writers block for like, a month. And it especially sucks because last update I said I wouldn't go a month without updating! But, this chapter is NSFW so I feel like that might redeem me in your eyes a bit. Also, for you homestuck nerds, there is a reference in this chapter, so be on the lookout for that! One last thing, I actually had the chance to write a lot of this chapter in Italy! So a lot of the places I describe, I actually wrote while I was there, and I just wrote what I saw. Hopefully it has a sense of accuracy to it. Anyways, I'm done rambling. This chapter is very very long so, enjoy! And as always, leave comments if you like, or if you have any suggestions or corrections. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter 4, Part 1: Leo**

 

Leo’s entire body was steaming as he raced past the rest of his crew.

“Leo?” Annabeth called after him.

“Is today annual ‘Say Leo’s Name Day’, because I must have left the memo in my other tool belt!” He yelled back, storming down into the engine room and panting heavily. Leo stared at the mess of equipment around him and suppressed the urge to scream, and instead settled for chucking anything he could reach across the room.

Nuts and bolts flew across the floor, screwdrivers scattered across the workbenches, and even his rolled up blueprints had found their way into some pipes on the far wall. 

Once he was satisfied with his temper-tantrum, he thumped against the base of the generator and slid down slowly, cupping his knees to his chest and resting his head between them. Leo should be happy. Everything he had ever fantasized about doing with Jason was now reality, and yet he hated himself the more his desires came true.

What would Piper say when she heard that they had kissed? Sure they had kissed before, but it wasn’t like the first incident. This kiss had been out of love. Pure, undeniable love, and Jason had surely felt it.

He couldn't really blame himself for this either. It wasn’t Leo who had initiated the kiss. Jason was the one who started to lean in, and Leo couldn’t really control himself to begin with. Not to mention that Jason actually kissed back once he realized what was happening. And when he had put his hands on Leo’s hips, oh gods-

“ _Oh dios mio…_ ” He lifted his head up and pressed his fingertips against his closed eyelids, images of Jason dancing beneath them.

Leo only opened them when he heard footsteps clank against the metal floor.

Hazel carefully balanced two mugs in her hands as she sat down next to him. “Hey.”

“Howdy. Did the others send you here to play babysitter? I swear I didn’t destroy anything important. I mean, not unless you count all of the friendships I have."

Hazel frowned as she handed him one of the mugs. “Hot chocolate. Sammy and I used to drink it all the time back home. I find it incredibly relaxing.”

“Oh, so they sent you to make sure I don’t catch anything on fire. I see.” Leo said, reluctantly sipping from the steaming mug. “Thanks.”

She smiled at him and looked up at the steam spewing from pipes here and there. “I’m sorry all this is happening to you. You don’t deserve it.”

“Don’t I though? I’m the one who agreed to the stupid Erotes offer to help me.” 

She turned to look at him. “What did you need help with anyways? It doesn’t seem to add up. Why would making you fall in love with Jason help heal your heart?” 

Leo sighed and looked down at his knees to avoid eye contact. “Beats me. Piper thinks they did it for fun. Then again, she also thinks they hate her, so I wouldn’t really take what she says to heart. It doesn’t matter though. What’s done is done. All we can do is try to fix it.”

“That’s awful mature of you to say, Leo. What happened to the goofy boy I met at the beginning of this trip?” 

“He’s still here. Just hiding.” Leo smiled and pressed his fingers to his lips before setting his mug down on the floor. “I should get back to work. Thanks for the Joe.”

“It’s not coffee, but you’re welcome.” Hazel smiled and kissed his forehead before leaving him to work.

_____________

The rest of Leo’s day went relatively normal. Well, as normal as it can be with a magic ring on your finger while repairing a flying boat. 

He managed to finish up repairs in the engine room around noon, then he went up to the deck and installed new radar for the control center. Leo had been meaning to upgrade the system since the wyvern attack. 

Afterwards he made his way to the lower deck to reinforce the rest of the weak points in the hull. He turned the corner at the stairs and ran right into someone, a stack of books hurtling towards the ground.

Leo immediately stooped down to pick them up. “Shit, I’m sorry, I wasn’t-” 

His sentence was cut short when he saw who the books belonged to. Jason smiled and picked up the remainder of novels before standing up straight. 

“-watching where I was going…” Leo finished, hugging the last book to his chest nervously.

“It’s fine. It takes two to tango, after all.” Jason replied, his view shifting from Leo’s eyes to the book in his hands. 

“Right! Sorry. Here’s your book.” Leo held it out, making sure not to touch Jason’s hand as he reached out to grab it. 

“Thanks. So,” Jason said, eager to change the subject. “How ya holdin’ up?”

“I’m fine. Better. Nothing super crazy has happened. But I am a little tired, and stressed, and angry all the time. And sometimes I accidentally light things on fire but other than that, I’m just peachy.” Leo mentally scolded himself. He shouldn’t let his irritability show, especially since he only has himself to blame for this whole ordeal. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do? We could take a walk and you could get it out of your system.” 

Leo blushed immediately. What exactly did he mean by getting it out of his system?

Jason must have caught on, because he immediately corrected himself. “Not like that! I mean, if that’s what you need, I can totally help but like, I meant talk it out. If you want.” 

Leo placed his hand on his hip and gawked at him. "Jason Grace, did you just offer to make out with me?"

His face turned completely red as he waved his hands around. "No, no, no, I just mean that like, to help calm you down! For the good of the ship and the quest!" He groaned and held his head in his hands. "I'm not helping am I?"

Leo laughed for the first time in weeks. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m fine. Can we just talk? And maybe like, watch a movie? Y'know, normal best friend, not making out stuff?"

He sighed and nodded happily. “Yeah, that sounds good. Meet me at my room tonight after the meeting?”

“Cool. Yeah, good. Perfect.” Leo responded. 

“Great.” 

“Great.” 

_____________________

Leo had been smiling for hours since his talk with Jason. 

He even managed to finish up the repairs on the ship, so they were officially back in action. 

The remainder of the day was spent on deciding what to wear. Leo did not want to mess this up, so everything had to be perfect. He finally decided on a crimson button-up and black jeans. 

He looked at himself in the mirror and examined every inch of his body for flaws. His curly brown hair looped around his ears and tugged at the collar of his shirt. The slight curve of his waist combined with the small bump of his hips gave him a tiny hourglass figure, since his tool belt wasn't there to hide it. He looked very un-Leo-y. 

Eventually, he sighed and stepped out of his room, running through the night in his head. Leo opened and closed his sweaty hands repeatedly, every now and then wiping them on his jeans only for them to get sweaty again. Before he knew it, he was in front of Jason’s door. 

He simply stared at the wood, tracing the lines with his eyes. Leo could hear Jason on the other side, shuffling around in preparation for Leo’s arrival. 

His hand rose into a fist as he knocked softly against the door, hoping that maybe it would go unheard. 

But Jason called out shortly after. “Come in. The door’s open.”

Leo cursed under his breath and twisted the cold handle, now slick with sweat. As he entered, his nose was assaulted by the smell of buttered popcorn. Jason stood at the far end of the room near the window. His smile alone nearly turned Leo’s legs to jelly. 

“Hey. You ready to watch the best movie of your life?” Jason asked as he grabbed a large bowl of the aforementioned popcorn. 

Leo managed a nod and closed the door behind him. “What movie are we watching?”

“The Avengers. Literally the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Granted, I’ve only ever seen about three, but still.” Jason grinned and sat down on the bed, which had been rearranged to accommodate for the movie. 

Leo crossed and sat beside him, leaning back against the pillows. Was he too close? Was he too far? Leo found it incredibly annoying that he was thinking about something as trivial as this. 

Jason reached to his left and pulled out a familiar silver object. 

“Is that Daedalus’ laptop?” Leo asked. 

“Yup. Asked Annabeth if I could borrow it for the movie, since we don’t really have a TV. This’ll work just as well. I already made sure the disk is compatible.” 

Leo felt his heartbeat increase. A small screen meant they would have to sit closer together, and that introduced the possibility of contact. The thought of blacking out and doing Jason was not at all appealing. 

Okay, maybe it was a little. But that’s not the point.

Jason laid down next to him and started the movie, the laptop on his lap and the popcorn bowl between them.

Leo had never actually seen The Avengers, but he'd always wanted to. Everyone told him he was a dead ringer for Iron Man in every way but his looks, which he took as a compliment. 

But he wasn't watching the movie. His eyes were set on the screen, and he could see the images flashing by, but the movie was the last thing on his mind. 

Instead, he thought about leaning his head onto Jason's shoulder, or laying back and cuddling, or kissing, or fu-

Leo shook his head in an effort to displace those thoughts. But it was hard not to think about it when his entire body felt like pins and needles and Jason was but a few inches away. 

It wasn't until halfway through the movie that Jason started acting weird. Whenever Leo would reach for popcorn, Jason would too. When Leo would inch farther away, Jason would follow. The two were always touching, even if it was something as subtle as their knees. It was almost like he _wanted_ to torture Leo with his body, and his hair, and his smile, and- 

Leo sighed for the umpteenth time that night and stared at the laptop, feigning interest. He dared a peek over at Jason, who seemed to be focused entirely on the movie. 

Until he turned and looked back. 

Leo felt himself blush in embarrassment, and immediately turned back to the screen. 

"What is it?" Jason asked. 

Leo bit back a curse. "Nothing. Sorry."

"You aren't a very good liar, Leo." Jason nudged his shoulder until Leo looked over at him. "What's up?"

He huffed out a breath. "It's really nothing important. Just the ring influencing my thoughts."

Jason quirked his brow. "What're you thinking about?"

"You." Leo bit his lip in an attempt to retrieve his answer, which had slipped from his lips almost unconsciously. 

"Oh." _Great job Valdez, you weirded him out._

"Yeah, I should probably go." Leo was about to get up and leave when Jason pressed his hand to his chest. 

"Leo, wait." Jason rolled onto his side so he could see Leo, leaning on his arm for support. "Look, I know that this is awkward and all, but you're my best friend. I'd walk through fire for you, and I know you'd do the same, even though it wouldn't really hurt you, but that's not the point."

Leo was very confused, even more so when Jason leaned forward and held his gaze as he spoke. "The point is I would do anything for you. So, if being with you all the time and letting you get relief from these thoughts makes things easier, I want you to know that I will help you. Even if it means making out every now and then."

He was speechless. Leo simply stared into Jason's eyes, searching for something to indicate that he was joking or lying, but he only saw genuine care and maybe even love. 

He smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, okay, but only if I absolutely need it, got that? It's not like we're gonna be doin' it on the daily, okay?"

Jason chuckled a bit and nodded. "Got it. Just let me know when you need it and we can work it out. In the meantime, all of us are gonna try our best to help you fix this. There's gotta be something in those books Annabeth gave me."

"So that's why you've been reading so much. The sentiment is flattering, really." Leo grinned, tapping at his knees nervously. His heart was beating way too fast. 

"Well, yeah. They're actually kinda interesting. I think I'm close to finding a solution. I'm pretty sure the answers we need are here, in Italy. We just need to find out where before we reach Rome." 

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Leo's head. He grabbed the laptop and closed the movie, opening up the internet instead. 

"Leo? What are you doing?" Jason asked, leaning over and resting his head on Leo's shoulder as he typed. 

He tried to suppress the chills that spread through his body as he typed in the name of the Erotes' hotel. 

The search revealed that there were two locations: one in northwest and the other in the south. 

Leo let out a yell of success and pumped his fist through the air. 

Jason read the page Leo pulled up and stared in awe. "Leo... You found it."

"Hells yeah I did!" He did a little dance and turned to Jason, kissing him hard for a second before pulling back in surprise. "Holy shit, I'm sorry. It was in the heat of the moment."

Jason blushed and shrugged. "It's fine. Do you need to keep going?"

Leo shook his head and stood up. "N-No, I'm fine. I should go tell Annabeth what we found." 

"Right, yeah. You should do that." Jason nodded, sitting up as well. 

"Right... So I'll just...?" He gestured to the door behind him, walking backwards a bit. 

"Yeah, yeah, go. I'll see you later."

"Right-o. See ya." Leo waved a little before reaching the door and letting himself out. 

Jason spoke to himself in the empty room, staring at the spot where Leo had just stood. "Bye."

 

**Chapter 4, Part 2: Jason**

 

"And that's why we decided that it would be in all of our best interest if I help Leo with these... Urges. The incident from the other night with Piper shows that." Jason addressed the group at the meeting the next day. 

"And you're okay with this Piper?" Annabeth asked, all eyes on her. 

Piper nodded. "Jason and Leo already talked to me about it. And they're right, it was really my idea to begin with. As long as Jason's comfortable with it, so am I."

"Well, it will definitely make things easier. I'll re-write Jason and Leo's schedules so that you two are together as much as possible." Annabeth replied. "If that's all on that, we should discuss the details of the mini-quest to the second hotel in Sorrento. Who should we send?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Leo asked, looking around the table. "I need to go for sure, which means Jason should go too. And these are Piper's siblings, so she needs to come-"

"I can't." Piper interrupted, looking a bit angry. "Those weird Italian babies are angry because of me. I don't think they would be up for negotiation if I was there."

"We can't exactly send just the two of them. If Leo has another episode, he'll basically be useless against any monsters that attack." Frank said, looking at Leo as he added, "No offense." 

Leo waved it off. "Don't worry about it."

"So who should we send?" Annabeth asked, just before glass fell to the ground behind her. 

Everyone turned in their seats to see Percy with a spoon in his mouth and what used to be a bowl of pudding on the floor in front of him. 

He looked up from the shattered glass and waved slowly, a small nervous grin forming on his lips. 

Annabeth looked back at everyone and nodded. "Percy it is then." 

_____________________

The ship was docked at the coast of Sorrento by the next morning. 

Jason, Percy, and Leo set out just as the sun was beginning to rise over the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. 

"That's one big volcano." Percy observed, looking up in it's shadow. "Hey, maybe we could check out Pompeii while we're here."

"That's probably a bad idea. Two Greeks in a decimated Roman town that's most likely full of ghosts doesn't really sound like an ideal vacation." Jason replied, walking over to a tourist shack and grabbing a map. 

Percy muttered under his breath. "Buzzkill..."

"Okay," Jason said as he opened the map, Leo leaning onto his shoulder to see. "We're here, and the hotel is here."

"So we should hike a cab?" Percy asked, whistling afterwards. "Ey, taxi!"

"Very funny. We're walking. It isn't all that far. And besides, this place is gorgeous." He replied. 

And it was. Small houses were built into the cliffside overlooking the sea, with domed building popping up here and there. The sun was bright in the sky and illuminated the valley in all the right places. From this side of the island, Jason could make out the crescent form of the city, with a huge domed cathedral towering above them. 

"Let's get going. We should make it there by noon." Jason heard Leo speak, but his attention focused on him when he felt a small, calloused hand slide into his own. Jason felt his cheeks grow hot as he looked down at the mess of curly hair that soon turned into warm, hazel eyes. 

Jason cleared his throat and pulled at his collar with his free hand. "Right then." 

Percy smirked his way as they started to walk through the slowly waking city. Since it was still pretty dark, the street lamps and lights on buildings were lit up, giving the entire street a soft glow. As they passed, shops began to open, and the sweet smell of pastries filled the air. It was just like a scene out of a movie. 

Jason was drawn back back to reality when he felt Leo's grip on his hand slack for a brief few seconds. He felt Leo's head lean onto his shoulder, his curls grazing the nape of Jason's neck every time they took a step. 

He turned to look at Leo, he turned to look back. Jason didn't realize Leo had transitioned until he saw a wisp of pink light dancing with the usual burn in his eyes. 

"Leo?" 

"Hm..." Was the only reply. Leo leaned up and laid one small peck on Jason's cheek before staring out at the sea. "This place is incredible, don't you think?"

"I- uh, yeah. It is, isn't it? I'm glad we got the chance to land here, despite the circumstances." Jason said, following Leo's gaze to the fishing boats that bobbed calmly in the distance. 

"Hey, lovebirds!" Percy called several hundred feet ahead of them. Jason suddenly realized that he had slowed down his pace to admire the view. He shook his head and looked forward as Percy continued. "Can we get a move-on? I got a date with my bed at three, and I don't wanna be late!" 

Leo rolled his eyes and stood up straight, pulling Jason along. "We're coming, we're coming. C'mon, babe." 

Jason felt chills running up his spine. That name, for some reason, gave him goosebumps. His feet took over for him as he sunk deep into his thoughts. 

His feelings for Leo were growing more complicated by the day. It had been a real gamble asking Leo if he wanted Jason's help with the ring. And honestly, he hadn't really thought the whole thing through. But he was too curious to just sit back and hope that Leo would kiss him again. After that first one on the deck, the real one, Jason knew he needed to figure out what the heck was going on with his head. 

Jason blinked hard as he felt someone shaking him, both from his thoughts and physically. He looked down at a very concerned and wide eyed Leo. 

"Is everything okay, Jay?" He asked, biting his lip a bit. Only Leo could be concerned and sexy at the same time. 

He swallowed hard before replying. "Yeah, sorry. Just thinking." 

"About what?" 

Jason was about to lie when he stopped himself. It wasn't like Leo would remember any of this anyway. "You. I'm thinking about you."

Leo blushed and hugged his arm. "That's sweet. I'm thinking about you, too." 

"Here we are." Jason looked up at the sound of Percy's voice. Sure enough, the elegant structure of the hotel lay only a few feet in front of them. 

Jason heard Leo inhale deeply, followed by a little shiver before he released his arm. 

Percy turned to look at him. "You back with us Valdez?"

Leo nodded in response as he walked into the hotel. "Let's just get this over with."

_____________________

Like the other location, the inside of the hotel was bustling with life. It was pretty much decorated the same way, give or take a painting here or a rug there. The main difference was the large self portrait of the Erotes hanging above the reception desk. 

Leo scoffed at the sight of it. "Those beautiful Italian bastards..."

"Pardon? Did you say something, sir?" The woman at the desk asked with perfect English. 

"N-Nope! I mean, yes." He quickly leaned on the desk, looking away like he was someone of importance. "I have a meeting scheduled. The name's Leo Valdez."

She stared at him quizzically, but shrugged it off and nodded. "Alright then, let me see if I can find you."

After a few seconds of typing, she frowned and shook her head. "I'm sorry sir, I don't see anything for a Leo Valdez here. Would you like to schedule something for a later date?" 

Jason could see Leo tense up. He hadn't been expecting them to say that. That's when he stepped in. 

"Oh my god. Did you really just say that? Do you know who he is? I'm so sorry, Mr. Valdez."

Thankfully, Leo caught on quickly. He sighed and looked away like a diva, leaning against the desk. "And I thought this place was worth my time..."

"I demand to speak with the owner's. This is an outrage." Now it was Percy's turn to play along, even getting up in the concierge's face to prove his point. 

"I, um, I'm sorry, sir, they're quite busy at the moment. But as I was saying, if you'd like to schedule something-" 

Leo interrupted her with a groan. "There goes my five star rating." He turned to Jason, acting as if they woman at the desk was invisible. "For every minute we waste standing here, I'm going to drop another star."

Jason nodded. "I'll make note of it, sir."

That caught her attention. Immediately, she began to wave her hands across her chest. "That won't be necessary!" She quickly dialed a number into her phone and turned around, whispering nervously into the phone. All Jason could catch was 'Valdez' and 'stars'. 

Once she had finished, she turned around, looking bewildered. "They've agreed to see you." Taking a keycard from beneath the desk, she wrote a room number down and slid it across the surface. "4th floor, room 13."

"That's more like it." Leo snatched the key and strutted off like his life depended on it. 

Jason hurried after him, followed by Percy, who shot the concierge a glare for good measure. 

Once they entered the elevator, they all looked at each other before erupting into laughter. 

"Could you have been more sassy Leo? I don't think you really sold it." Jason said as he recovered. 

"Me?! What was with the rating thing? Way to ruin her self esteem." Leo replied, flashing Jason that imp style grin. He immediately felt butterflies his stomach, eventually blaming it on the elevator. 

Soon enough, the elevator dinged, and they stepped out into the hall. 

It had an entirely different atmosphere than the lobby. While the halls were silent, they heard a strange assortment of sounds echoing from the rooms as they passed; not all of which were human. 

That only motivated them to move quickly reaching room 413. Leo slid the card across the scanner and the door slid open. The inside was dark and cold, save for a sliver of light that peeked out of the underside of a door a few feet in front of them. 

"Cupid victims first." Jason said, gesturing into the room.

"Ha ha." But Leo complied and entered. Open doors lay on either side of the entrance, filled to the brim with what looked like broken glass. "What the hell..." He peered and flipped the switch on the wall, gasping at what he found. 

"Leo, what is it?" Jason asked, Percy walking forward to secure the room. 

"Rings. There are so many of them..." What Leo originally thought to be broken glass was actually piled upon piles of the ruby red rings, similar to the one he wore, except they were all broken. The spiderweb fractures on these ones were much bigger, some even broken to a point where the ruby had cracked entirely. 

"Looks like I'm not the first one the Erotes have messed with." 

"Uh, guys... You might wanna take a look at this." Percy gestured for them to come over, ripping a note from the door and handing it to Leo. 

Leo read it aloud. "' _Leonardo_ , it has come to our attention that you are not happy with the effects of the ring. Unfortunately, there are only two ways to get rid of it. The first, and easiest, is to submit yourself fully, and do as your heart demands.'" Leo felt himself blush but continued, turning so Jason wouldn't see. "'The second is not so simple. You will need to follow a list of clues that will lead you to the solution. The first of which lies beyond this door. Make sure you enter alone. Good luck. With love, lust, and passion, the Erotes.'" 

"Well, this sounds like fun." Percy said sarcastically. 

"Wait, there's more." Leo turned the paper over. "'PS: Clue number one lies at the start, clue number two lies in the heart.'" 

Percy chuckled nervously. "Oh, lovely. We get to go on a magical scavenger hunt. I expect nothing less from those diaper wearing assholes." 

"There's no way you're going in there by yourself. It's too risky." What was that in Jason's tone? Protectiveness? Worry?

"We don't have much of a choice. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." Leo smiled, though he wasn't sure if he was convincing Jason or himself. 

"Jason, we have to get him fixed asap. Let him do this. I'll guard from the outside, you guard from the inside." Percy spoke quickly before he left, shutting the door behind him. 

Leo turned to go when Jason grabbed his hand. "Leo wait." 

"What is it-Mmph!" He was interrupted by Jason's lips on his own. It wasn't anything special, just a simple kiss, like the one they shared the night before on the deck. 

As Jason pulled away, he felt his face grow hot. "Good luck in there. Call me if you need anything." 

"Will do." Leo smiled and nodded, turning around and entering the room quickly before he could think twice. 

 

**Chapter 4, Part 3: Leo**

 

Leo pressed his back against the door and immediately pushed the thought of Jason's lips to the back of his mind. He needed to focus if he wanted to get through this.

He looked around the room to get his mind off it. It seemed much bigger than it should be, looking more like a ballroom than a hotel room. The walls were decorated with swirls of red and pink and everything in between. A majority of the room in front of him was empty, with a simple red rug between him and the next wall. 

Two sets of dark red curtains were pushed to the sides to reveal two balconies, each overlooking the sea and revealing a view of the sunset, though Leo was certain it had been noon when they got here. The only other light in the room came from candles lit on the bedside tables and the dressers on either side of the room. The only thing that seemed out of place in the room was a portrait on the wall. The three Erotes all sat on the edge of a cliff, looking out towards the ocean. Brilliant lights in the city behind them curved into a coast that looked so real Leo felt like he was actually there. 

Between them lay the most sensual bed Leo had ever seen. The comforter matched the curtains in color, with an assortment of pink accented pillows. Rose petals were scattered across the surface of the bed and on the floor around it. Music from somewhere played softly, wrapping up the scene nicely. It was like something out of a romance novel. 

But what really made the room pop was the dozens of skeletons that decorated the perimeter of the room. They were all stacked on top of each other, some bigger than others, all of them creepy. Their empty eyeless sockets seemed to bore into him, as if they wanted the scream at him to leave while he could. Leo's heart leapt into his throat when he realized they all wore identical ruby-stone rings. However, instead of the broken ones in the other rooms, these ones seemed to be brand new, which was a shame given their owners. 

"Hello? Anyone home?" Leo's voice echoes off the walls as he made his way to the bed. Once he was at the foot of the bed, something shiny caught his eye in the middle of the bed. He picked up the small wrapped square, blushing furiously once he realized what it was. 

"A condom? What for?"

"Take a guess, Valdez." Leo whirled around to the owner of the voice. 

He swallowed hard as he turned to meet a face full of abs. "Jason? What are you doing? You're supposed to be keeping watch?" 

"Yeah, I was thinking about that..." Jason spoke as he took a step forward, raising his hand and caressing the side of Leo's face. 

A moan escaped his lips immediately, and he quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth. Jason's touch alone sent a wave a pleasure through his entire body. Leo felt his heart racing, and his face grew even hotter when he saw that Jason was wearing a whole lot of nothing. 

Jason chuckled, his voice so low and husky it made Leo's skin crawl. "Something wrong, hot stuff?" 

Under normal circumstances, Leo would have laughed at the irony of being called 'hot stuff'. But now, with his jeans tight just from Jason touching his cheek, he was at a loss for words. "I... Uh..."

"Leo, I want you so badly. I can't stop thinking about you. My mind is filled with images of you beneath me, moaning my name and begging for it like your life depends on it." Jason slid his fingers between Leo's chin and raised it, staring straight into his eyes. 

Leo couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him to run, but this was but a whisper compared to his entire body screaming at him to let Jason devour him on the spot.

"Well, Leo?" Jason moved closer still, using one hand to hold Leo's chin in place and the other to snake around his back and pull their bodies together. Leo gasped at the heat of Jason's chest against his own, even with the barrier of his shirt. "What do you want me to do?" 

Leo stared up at him, and a glimmer of pink light shined in Jason's eyes. Even though he knew what that meant, Leo's voice flooded from his lips against his will. "I want you." 

Jason smiled and moved to Leo's ear, biting on the lobe and pulling before whispering in his ear. "You want me to what?" 

A moan hurtled from Leo's lips, along with a quick response. "I want you to fuck me." 

Now, if Leo had been in his right mind, he would have been completely aware of the sheer un-Leo-ness of what he just said. If he was in his right mind, he would have pushed this fake Jason away and bashed its head in with a hammer. 

But Leo wasn't in his right mind. 

And that's why he let Jason grab his hair in a fist and smash their lips together. His body responded for him, wrapping his arms around Jason's neck and jumping onto him. Jason held them both up and crashed them against the wall, pinning Leo's hands above his head and sucking hard on his neck. 

Leo moaned into the air as Jason ground their hips together. He lifted his head up as Jason freed one of his arms to rip Leo's shirt off. Leo's hand immediately flew to Jason's hair, gripping it hard as he bit into the soft, sensitive flesh at the nape of Leo's neck. 

"J-Jason!" He had finally managed to get rid of the shirt, and their chests crashed together once more. Everywhere they touched left Leo's skin on fire, sending pin-pricks up his spine. Leo let out a stream of moans as Jason released him and began to kiss down his chest. 

Despite the already dirtiness of their situation, Leo blushed when he felt the tip of Jason's erection pressing against his ass through the denim of his jeans.

Leo's leg fluttered to the ground and Jason continued his assault on his chest. He sucked hard on the nub of Leo's nipple, slicking his fingers up with saliva and using his hand to tweak the other. 

Jason looked up to catch the look of sheer pleasure combined with lust that remained permanently glued to Leo's face. After a few more seconds of teasing him, Jason continued to kiss down his chest until he reached the waistband of Leo's boxers. He ran his fingers through Leo's little happy trail before he smirked up at him. 

"Shall we take this to the bed, my love?"

Leo barely had time to nod before Jason yanked him to the bed, pushing him down and climbing on top of him. He straddled Leo's hips as their lips reunited; his fingers snaking down the sides of Leo's hips, eliciting a shiver. 

Jason hummed against his lips. "You taste like heaven, Valdez. I can't wait to see if that's true for all of you." He smirked at Leo as he cupped his groin hard. 

Leo let out a sound that was way too close to a whimper as Jason unbuttoned his jeans. If there was ever any way to take off pants sexily, Jason was doing it. He trailed kisses all the way down Leo's chest, pulling down the waistband of his boxers just enough to lay a kiss at the base of his erection. Jason smiled at the bucking hips in response and continued to kiss down Leo's legs, all the way down to his ankles. 

Once the jeans were off, Leo's face grew hot at the sight of Leo Jr. saluting Jason in the face. 

"Looks like I've made a friend." Jason purred, flicking the tip lightly before kissing and sucking on Leo's thighs. There would definitely be hickey's there tomorrow. 

"Ah! Jason, please!" Leo wanted to slap himself for being so whiny, but he couldn't help himself. Everything just felt so good. 

"Please what?" The way he strung out the word made Leo shiver. 

"Please just touch me already! I can't take take this anymore!" The chuckle that followed caused Leo's dick to twitch, which elicited, of course, another chuckle. 

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Jason made quick work of Leo's boxers, discarding them somewhere in the sea of bones. Next was his tool belt, which. After Jason unclasped it, slid off onto the floor beside them. Soon, thin, calloused hands wrapped around the girth of Leo's cock, causing him to nearly cum right on the spot. 

Leo felt Jason's tongue flick over the tip, and he bucked his hips up involuntarily. A second later, his entire erection was enveloped by warmth. Leo arched his back and brought his hands to Jason's head, both caressing his soft blonde hair and pushing him down further. 

Jason hummed around Leo, which did nothing to help the moans that followed. They came out like music notes, one after the other. 

Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Leo opened his eyes to see the head of Jason's erection pressed against his lips. 

Jason spoke one, commanding word. "Suck." 

Leo immediately opened his mouth and did as he was told, doing his best to go down as far as he could. Though Jason did most of the work, thrusting in and out at a steady pace that increased by the minute. Moans from his lips echoed across the room in all directions. 

He had never sucked a dick before, and to be honest, it was strange. The entire thing tasted like a strange mix of testosterone and salt. But eventually, Leo caught on to what elicited the best responses and did his best to replicate them. He used his hand to pump what he couldn't reach, gagging every now and then as the head of Jason's dick hit the back of his throat. 

After a few minutes, Jason pulled off and resumed his position on Leo's lap, kissing him hard. When he pulled away, they were both breathing hard, and Leo caught a look at Jason's face. 

_Gods he was beautiful_. His blonde hair was plastered against flushed skin, his chest fluctuating rapidly with his breathing. Jason's lips were wet and swollen, accented by the small little scar on his upper lip. Everything was so perfect, Leo could cry. He wanted go lay there and keep going. He wanted to give Jason every inch of him. And he would have. 

But then he looked into his eyes. There was passion behind them. And lust, and maybe even love. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see a shred of that signature electricity that is Jason Grace. It was replaced entirely by that faint pink glow. 

That's when the spell broke. Leo's mind was suddenly as clear as day. He swallowed hard, looking around the room for anything to get him out of this situation. His tool belt was too far away to reach without making a scene, and if the real Jason could hear him, he would have rushed in by now. 

That's when he saw the locket around Jason's neck. The golden heart fit so perfectly alongside his sun-kissed skin, Leo hadn't noticed it before. Leo's mind put two and two together. 

_Clue number two lies in the heart._

"Leo? Is everything okay?" Fake Jason looked at him worriedly, gliding his fingers down Leo's spine. 

He fought back the shivers that overtook him and nodded. "Y-Yeah, everything's great. Just kiss me." 

Jason smiled and complied, pressing their lips together passionately and grinding their hips together. 

It took all of Leo's willpower to yank the chain from Jason's neck. 

As soon as he did, the figure in front of him pulled away, looking at Leo in horror. He pushed it away as Jason's beautiful face melted, along with the rest of his body. It disappeared off the side of the bed in a fit of screams and writhing. 

And then it was quiet. 

After a few more seconds, Leo dared to peek over the side, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of a beautiful red rose in the place of whatever creature lurked in it's place moments before. 

He picked it up and placed it on the bed softly. He glanced down at his ring just as one of the cracks seemed to be stitching itself together. Leo looked away as it flashed bright red. When he looked down again, he saw that the crack had been repaired completely, leaving just four left.

"That must be a good sign..." He muttered to himself as he dashed to pick up his clothes. 

_____________________

Pros of almost having sex with a monster that looks like your crush: you get to have sex with your crush. 

Cons: it rips your favorite shirt in half. 

When Leo finally pulled his jeans and his tool belt back on, he opened to door to find a sleeping Jason. 

He frowned, kneeling down and shaking him lightly. "Hey, Jay. Jason?" He rolled his eyes, shaking a little harder. "Jason, _wake up!_ "

He opened his eyes groggily at first, then all at once, jumping up and hugging him. "Thank gods Leo! You were in their for an entire day! We thought you were dead and I couldn't open the door but I couldn't leave you I was so worried I shouldn't have let you go in alone and-" 

Leo cut him off with a kiss. Nothing big, just a quick peck. "You talk too much. Now, what's this about me being in their a day? I was only gone for a few minutes, fifteen at the most."

Jason seemed dazed when he responded. "Hm? Oh, sorry. But yeah, you were in there for a whole day. Perce went back to the ship to give an update, and I stayed here."

"You've got to be joking." He'd been gone for that long? And Jason waited for him? There was definitely something sweet in the middle of all that. 

Suddenly, Jason frowned, noticing for the first time that he was looking at Leo's bare chest. "What happened to your shirt?" 

"I, uh... Well, it's funny, see, when I was fighting the monster, it got ripped so badly that I just had to leave it." Leo nearly groaned at the sound of his own bad excuse. 

But Jason simply shrugged. "Sorry about that. Here, take my jacket." 

Leo gladly took the brown leather coat and slid it on. It smelled safe and familiar: signature Jason. He smiled as Jason asked him the next question. 

"Did you get the second clue?"

He nodded and took the locket from his tool belt. "Right here. You wanna do the honors this time? That last one was a buzzkill." 

Jason smiled and held his hand out. He opened the locket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolding it and reading aloud. 

"'You may have clue number two, but where does the next lie waiting for you? Travel to the boots' end and find clue three where Summer ends.'" Jason knitted his eyebrows and looked at Leo. "Does that make any sense to you?" 

Leo shook his head. "But it's safe to assume that Annabeth can figure it out." 

"I'm sure you're right." Jason smiled, only to be replaced by a look of embarrassment. "Um.. Leo?"

"What is it?" Leo felt his stomach drop. Did he do something wrong? 

"Are those, um... Hickeys? On your neck? And your chest, and your, um... Hips?" 

Leo looked down to see that, yes, hickeys decorated almost every inch of his body. He blushed profusely and zipped Jason's jacket up as far as it could go. "I will definitely explain everything later, but for now, can we just get going? I've had a very... Interesting day." 

Jason chuckled nervously. "Whatever you say, hot stuff."

Leo could have sworn he saw a smirk before Jason walked out into the hall.


	5. Tattoos, Prophecies, Nightmares, Oh My!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yowza it's been forever since I updated. I apologize from the bottom of my heart! There really is no excuse except that I keep getting smacked upside the face with writer's block. And I think this chapter is still a bit shorter than the others. But not to fear! Chapter 6 will be full of adventure and, who knows, maybe even some... Action ;) Enjoy!

**Chapter 5, Part 1: Jason**

Jason was getting tired of all these meetings. 

After waiting all of a day for Leo to return, he was tired. Yes, he had been asleep when Leo found him, but he had just fallen asleep minutes before. It was strange; one minute he had been standing guard, and the next he woke up on the floor. The only reason he had left that out when he talked to Leo was because he felt fine.

There was one upside to these meetings, though. Annabeth usually had food waiting for them when they occurred, and Jason was starving. Apparently so was Leo, given that he basically scarfed down three waffles in two minutes. 

“We must be doing something right. Leo, was there anything else that can help us narrow down a city? That island isn’t exactly small.” Annabeth paced in front of them, her fingers curved around her chin like they did every time she was thinking. 

“No, nothing…” Suddenly, Leo perked up, remembering something in the back of his mind. “There was a painting in there. I didn’t think it was important at the time, but it was totally out of place. It showed this place with lots of lights, like lanterns or something.”

Hazel tilted her head. “Like a festival?”

Jason could practically see the light-bulb go off in Annabeth’s head. She snapped her fingers and raced into her room, racing back in with a book in hand. Pages flipped rapidly until she pointed to one in particular. “‘Carnevale, held in the city of Palermo in Sicily. Floats and papier-mache decorations are paraded through the streets of the small suburb Termini Imerese. The grand finale is the floating lantern ceremony to commemorate loved ones.’ It’s on February 21st.”

“That’s in two days. Can we get there by then?” Jason turned to look at Leo, who nodded in reply. As if to confirm their theory, the ring on his finger glowed a deep red.

“Carnevale it is. Better get ready to party.” 

_____________________

Jason went straight to his room after the meeting, determined to get some shuteye before their next quest. He sighed and rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes, tugging his shoes off and sliding them into their usual place in his closet. The buttons on his shirt fell away quickly under his touch, but he froze when he caught his reflection in the mirror.

A trail of bright red ink swirled on his skin, curling from either side of his hips and dipping down past his waistband, following the curve of his hip bones. Jason cautiously pulled them down, following the trail that ended just shy of his… 

He turned bright pink, having no recollection of getting some ink in Sorrento. The pattern ended abruptly about halfway up his chest, just above his first rib. It seemed to glow with the same light that possessed Leo, which did nothing to soothe his fears. 

It was hard to swallow, and Jason could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. He didn’t want to think twice about it, throwing another shirt on and collapsing into bed before he could overthink it.

But just as his mind was drifting off on the one-way express to dreamland, a knock thundered on Jason’s door. With a stifled groan and way too much effort, he hobbled to the door and threw it open. 

On the other side was Annabeth, looking as grim as ever and holding a holographic scroll in her hand. “We need to talk.”

Every nerve in Jason’s body was telling him to shut the door in her face and pretend nothing happened. Instead, he nodded and stepped aside as she walked in, pacing in her uniquely Annabethian way as a telltale sign she was distressed about something.

It was quiet for too long, so Jason spoke first. “Is that from camp?” 

This stopped her pacing, and she turned to him, nodding quickly. Without a word, she thrust the scroll into his hands, standing back with her arms crossed and biting her lip in anticipation. 

With shaky hands, he peeled the pages back and the hologram shot into the air. It seemed relatively normal. An image of the volleyball courts back home showed a match between the kids in Apollo and those from Ares with Rachel Elizabeth Dare as their ref, no doubt still in a debate over responsibility for the destruction of the flying chariot. Laughter and other miscellaneous noise filled the room, and at first, Jason didn’t understand the cause behind Annabeth’s stern expression. 

Connor and Travis Stoll came into view, no doubt being the ones who shot the hologram in the first place. The view was shifted towards Rachel, who looked down and smiled, flashing a peace sign. 

It was Connor’s voice that came up first. “Sending a message straight to the homies on the Argo II!”

Followed by Travis. “Got anything you wanna say to them, Rach?”

Rachel stepped down from the elevated platform and waved. “Hey everyone! I hope that-” Her voice was suddenly cut off, replaced with gasps and feet pounding in sand. The hologram shook violently, showing a blurred image for a few seconds until it focused once more on Rachel, sitting in her stool. Her eyes bore the dark jade of Delphi, green mist pooling at her feet. She seemed to stare directly into Jason’s eyes, piercing his very soul. When she spoke, the ancient tongue of the Oracle gave him shivers. 

_“Son of the forge, deny thy heart,_  
Death and pain, the ring shall chart,  
Escape the curse by spring's’ arrival,  
Or face a foe no mortal can rival,  
Survive the trials and only then will you see,  
Loves lost call too late to decree.” 

As the last word left her mouth, she collapsed, caught by campers surrounding her. The image flipped back to the Stoll brothers, who looked at each other before the signal cut out.

Jason stood in shock. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and every bone in his body felt like it had turned to jelly. He dared a glance at Annabeth, who looked about as great as he did. When he spoke, his voice sounded foreign. “Have you shown this to anyone else?”

Annabeth shook her head, speaking softer than he had ever heard before. “I wanted you to be the first to see. I figured Leo might not be able to handle it, what with all that's happened.”

He took in a shaky breath and nodded. “Good. Don’t show it to the others. We need time to think about this.”

“What about Leo? Don’t you think he has a right to know?” 

Jason bit his lip and turned his back to her. “I’ll talk to him. I want him to hear it from me.” 

That was the only lie he’s ever told Annabeth in his life.

_____________________

The Argo II was docked in Palermo by the dawn of Carnevale. Anyone would have guessed that the city was at the brink of an event just by the sheer amount of activity that bustled at the ports. Boats unloaded foods and supplies like the bloodstream supplies oxygen, constantly and efficiently. Everywhere he looked, Jason could see someone somewhere getting ready. 

At the meeting, Annabeth decided that it would be a good idea to have everyone go on this little adventure to get a break from all the drama and stress of their quest, so the brunt of the team waited for them on the docks below.

Jason watched Leo prepare the security system for their departure. He smiled at the way he pet the side of the control panel, activating the security system and saying something to Festus that Jason couldn’t hear. 

Leo looked up across the deck and smiled when their eyes met. Jason met him halfway, Leo slipping their hands together. A small peck on the cheek was all Jason could manage before they were interrupted by a sudden call from the dock, Annabeth’s voice piercing the busy air. “You ready to go, lovebirds?”

A giggle erupted from Leo’s lips, and he nodded. “We’re on our way!” 

Jason was pulled down to the docks, the gangplank retracting behind them as they met up with the rest of the group. He silently cursed himself for not telling Leo about the prophecy before they left, but figured it would be better when they had the time. When they were alone. 

As they entered the center of the city, the streets became busier and busier. Half-constructed floats lay dormant in front of houses with people frantically gluing feathers and papier-mache to the wire beams that created the foundation. Makeshift shops had popped up all over the place, some selling exotic foods and others advertising different styles of lanterns. 

The crowds were the worst part, and even then they weren’t that bad. It was like being in a school of fish, only it had just collided with another school. People bumped into them from all sides so often it was a surprise when they all came out of it together. 

They escaped the crowd into a wide street in a circular bowl of walls just as the first streaks of sunset painted the sky. Jason held tight onto Leo’s hand, the thought of being alone in such a crowded area unbearable, especially with the knowledge of the quest in mind. Annabeth led them to the edge of the bowl, which showed the entire island spread out before them in one beautiful expanse. 

“This is it…” Leo whispered at Jason’s shoulder.

Behind them, trumpets blared as the sun dipped below the monster of a mountain in the distance. Jason turned as the lights on the street erupted, draped across windows and along gates, all flickering as one when the floats began to parade down the street. The first was the a huge bird with white and gold feathers, flapping its wings in an imitation of flight. It was proceeded by a huge papier-mache cupid, launching arrows of light by activating different bulbs in succession. 

Then all at once, the music stopped, and all the engines on the floats seemed to freeze in unison. Feedback from a microphone pierced the air, followed by rapid fire Italian. Jason couldn’t understand any of it, and instead brought his eyes back to the float. The one of cupid had stopped just as the arrow made it to its highest point, seeming to direct attention to a mountainside above the buildings in front of the floats.

Jason squinted his eyes a bit, noticing a light at a spot halfway up. “Leo, up there.” He pointed to the light, which began to blink with a dark red glow.

“Can’t be a coincidence.” Leo took Jason’s hand and started towards an almost hidden stairway carved into the mountain through an alleyway between two buildings. 

They passed through a small black metal gate that separated the steps from the main road and headed up. As the metal stairs turned to earth, red candles, which presumably littered the hillside for the parade, flickered to life, as if by magic. Eventually the stairs came to an end, and a trail of rose petals flanked by a gate of candles led the way to a small clearing that overlooked the entire city. Once they entered the field, the parade below kicked back to life, as if on cue. 

“I gotta hand it to those damn cupids. They really know how to set up a romantic evening.” Jason spoke as he examined their surroundings, eyeing the fields for any sign of danger while Leo stared at the only thing that could make this scene even more cliche.

A red blanket lay on the ground near the edge of the clearing, held down by four candles at every corner and a small wooden picnic basket in the center, topped off by a bucket of ice with the handle of what Leo assumed was champagne sticking out. Despite the hilariousness of the scene, Leo smiled and took a seat on the blanket.

“Hey Jay, check it out.” Leo grabbed the champagne and popped the cork, pouring it into the two glasses that accompanied the bottle. 

Jason smiled at the sight, then frowned as the prophecy shook through his body. _‘Death and pain, the ring shall chart’_. Even know, the damned thing seem to glimmer with a red glow in the candlelight, making Jason’s insides do a somersault. 

Still, he took a seat next to Leo and smiled at the sight before them. Dancers in costumes themed with their respective floats moved in unison down the street, covering the black concrete in a maze of reds and purples and oranges that reminded Jason of a tropical school of fish. 

Leo handed him a glass with a grin, which he gladly took. Jason rummaged through the basket, taking out a roll of bread, a bowl of assorted fruits, cheese, and, of course, a heart shaped box of chocolate to sum up the cheesiness of the situation. 

“That’s original.” He smirked as he slid the box open, revealing a handwritten letter amongst the assorted decadence that is chocolate. 

It was Leo that snatched the letter up, clearing his throat and reading it aloud. “‘Clue number three rests upon sweets, clue number four waits in the streets.’ It also has a parenthesis that says PS: Eat the food. You will know when the time has come to take action.”

That was unhelpful. “Well, you heard the babies. Guess we gotta eat.” Jason smiled and set out napkins before dishing out some of the food for either of them. The parade from below combined with the soft lit candles around them made for a perfect glow that seemed otherworldly.

The soft hum of Leo’s satisfaction at the bread made Jason’s heart skip a beat, though he’d never admit to it. He shifted his gaze from the parade to his friend, admiring the way his jawline curved up into his ear and the soft mold of his lips. Wavy curls bobbed every time his head moved, accenting his eyelashes that seemed unreasonably long to be natural. Yet they were, just as all the perfection Leo held was natural. 

He suddenly felt the urge to lean forward and kiss Leo like he’d never been kissed before. That’s what they did in the movies right? The scene was set, the mood was right, all he needed was the sign from Leo. 

And there it was. Leo turned his head a bit, catching Jason’s stare in his peripheral. Soft red flushed his lips as he too leaned forward, seemingly on accident. Time seemed to stop around them, leaving only the mountainside, the soft glow of the candles, and Leo’s all too alluring lips. 

Yes, this was definitely just like in the movies. 

 

**Chapter 5, Part 2: Leo**

 

Leo’s face felt like it was on fire. 

He found himself staring at the literal boy of his dreams, sitting on a cliffside, surrounded by candles, with all of Jason’s attention on him, and the look in his eyes that made Leo feel like the most important thing in the world. 

On top of that, the ring seemed to fill him with desire. Not the same desire he felt back at the hotel, no this was different. He felt a longing to just press his lips to Jason’s softly, and run his fingers through his hair just to see what it felt like. Leo wanted to memorize every inch of Jason’s face until it was the only thing he could remember.

It didn’t help that Jason reached out and cupped Leo’s cheek with his hand. His nerves burned where their skin met, as if their very molecules yearned for contact. Sooner than he realized, their lips were an inch away, half an inch, a few centimeters. 

“You know something, Valdez?” Leo shivered, the feeling of Jason’s lips brushing against his own, plus the way his name sounded in Jason’s voice, was enough to make his heart feel like it might beat right out of his chest.

Leo silently commended himself for being able to speak without a stutter. “What is it, Jay?”

“I don’t really know how much I mind this whole mess of things. It’s hard to be upset when the collateral damage is the privilege to be with you all the time. Especially if it’s this close.” As he spoke, Jason moved his hands up into Leo hair, pressing against his head softly to bring their lips together.

Behind them, fireworks exploded into a masterpiece of lights, which is exactly how Leo’s heart felt at the moment. Jason’s lips were soft and warm and inviting, enveloping him a loving hold so great that he felt dizzy. He tasted like honeysuckle and chocolate, with a smell that was so utterly Jason.

They stayed there for what felt like days, mouth’s locked in a dance so sweet it made his heart ache for more. When they finally separated, Leo noticed a strange gleam in the air around them that he had mistaken for the glow of the candles before. It glimmered like a mirage, or heat waves on a hot, summer day. 

“Something’s wrong…” Leo’s lips betrayed him. His heart was screaming at him to shut up and kiss Jason until his body was numb. But his brain lit up in warning, the sense of danger fresh in his mind.

But again, Jason cupped his chin and brought their lips together for a brief second. “It’s nothing, love. Just focus on me.” 

Leo shook his head, his body swaying towards Jason of its own accord. “No, no, no.” He stood up, stepping back. “This is all too perfect, you said it yourself. We need to find… We need to…” What was it he needed to do? All Leo could remember was the warm embrace of Jason’s arms and the longing he felt for them to continue along with their perfect evening. 

Candles flickered around him as he got dangerously close to the edge. Jason was standing now, too, stepping towards Leo as he took another step back. “Leo…” 

Jason advanced slowly, the candles from the steps snapping out one by one in succession as they neared the field. As they went out, shadows creeped along the path, drawn toward the boys like moths to candlelight. 

“Jason, what’s going on?” The desperation in Leo’s voice caused Jason to waver, frowning and looking around him. He saw, for a second, a flicker of confusion. Jason brought his hand to his head, his shirt skirting up a bit to reveal markings Leo had never seen before.

With a quick step forward, he yanked the shirt, gasping at the sight. The horrifically beautiful curves in his skin were breathtaking, but dangerous all the same. They glowed faintly in the night, a new design etching its way up Jason’s chest and forming twin arches on either side of his body, just above his pecs. A deep red shimmered in and out in the addition to the design, as if it wasn’t fully on him, but in the process of. 

Leo pulled a hammer from his toolbelt, igniting fire in his palm that spread up the base and ignited its entirety in a matter of seconds. “Jason, please, snap out of it! We need to… To…"

Again, the reason for their quest was lost in his brain. A faint shimmer on his hand drew his eyes down to the glowing surface of ruby, pulsing on his finger like a heartbeat. Suddenly, everything clicked back into place. "The curse! The ring!”

Jason staggered, his eyes glowing a faint red as he recited lines over and over again in some kind of trance. “Son of the forge… Death and pain, the ring shall chart…” 

The scene had turned from romantic to horrifying in a matter of seconds. Leo turned to the cliff behind him, his heart racing at the bit about the ring and the death charting. Still, he focused on the task ahead of him. It wasn’t that bad of a drop, and the way down was relatively horizontal. He made his way down slowly, leaving Jason behind as the marks bore into his flesh. Leo needed to find the next item, and fast. 

As he turned back to the street, a gasp bit at his throat. The floats remained intact, but seemed as though they had been there for decades. The once fresh paint had peeled off, exposing the rust of the frame underneath. Streamers and cups littered the streets, as if the crowd had vanished where they stood. Not even his friends remained in their spot near the balcony.

One float in particular caught his eye. The lights flickered on and off, with haunting music playing from a music box somewhere he couldn’t see. A large heart stood in the center, once brilliant red reduced to a shoddy, decrepit rusty orange. One of the broken lights flashed down on it from behind, casting the heart’s shadow in the ground in front of the float. A dark object seemed to be suspended in the center. Based on its shadow, Leo assumed it was some kind of box, held in place by wires and the metal beams of the float. 

A call from behind him made Leo turn as he reached the bottom of the hill. Jason was in the air, his eyes definitely red now. Red lightning crackled around his body dangerously, like he was short circuiting. He scanned the area, his eyes acting as headlights in the dark of the city. The whole scenario reminded Leo of a horror movie. 

Leo quickly raced to the float, climbing into the compartment and shuffling through the doors that led up into the heart. He heard Jason’s feet hit the deck above him, and he froze. Silence was soon interrupted by a blast that rocked the float, followed by shuffling and then receding footsteps. 

“Leo…” The way Jason dragged out his name made his stomach sick. “Come out, my love. I only want to talk to you…”

 _Holy Hades_ this couldn't get creepier. Leo crawled on his forearms across the bottom of the float and peaked out of the tattered banner on the front of the float. 

Jason stood a few feet away, holding a brown oak box under his arm. It glowed from within with the same red light that possessed Jason's eyes, fading before coming back brighter over and over again. 

Suddenly, a burning sensation sent pinpricks across Leo's skin, causing him to gasp and hit his head on a metal bar of the float above him. Jason's head whipped around to the source of the noise as Leo pulled the heart necklace from Sorrento out of his shirt. It glowed brightly around his neck, pulsing with power that drew Jason to his position in a matter of seconds. 

Like it was a toy car rather than a float, Jason tossed the vehicle into the air. Leo watched as it sailed off the cliff and into the churning seas below. He backed away in a flurry of dust, kicking it up with his shoes as cover for a means to escape. 

But even in this strange possessed form, Jason retained his powers over the wind. A breeze swept through the street with the flick of his wrist, clearing up the path to Leo in a matter of seconds. 

_"Mio amore..."_ Jason's voice sounded like that of the Oracle, tainted with overlapping tongues that weren't his own. _"Quare curre?"_

Leo wasn't an expert, but those sounded like two different languages to him. Even in his fear stricken state, he could discern that much. 

Jason stepped forward slowly, the box glowing brighter in his hand each step he took. _"We could have it all, Leonardo..."_

Eros' voice in Jason's body sent shivers down his spine, and not the good kind. "Let him go and give me that damn box! I thought you wanted me to succeed!" 

A sneer too awful to belong on Jason's face stared back at him. _"How can you succeed if you're stuck inside a dream?"_

Leo's head swam, his knees buckling underneath him. The hard gravel of the ground dug into his knees. Was this a dream? It felt so real. The cold air bit at his skin, the smell of rust was fresh in his nose, the weight of Jason's hand on his shoulder as he picked him up felt so _real._

He stared up at the figure in front of him. Scratch that, figures. Jason had tripled, standing around him in a triangle that was all too menacing. One planted his head between the nook between Leo's head and shoulder, another finding the same spot on the other side. The last stood in front of him, his form shifting from Jason to Eros to Himeros to Pothos and back again. His head spun around him, the figure before him getting closer and closer until he couldn't tell who was touching what and where. Everything was a blur that made his stomach twist like a kid on a rollercoaster. 

He heard them speak as one, one at each ear and the last directly in front of him. Or was it behind him? Or was it him that was speaking? Leo didn't know. All he did know is that he heard a voice. 

_"You've already lost."_

 

**Chapter 5, Part 3: Jason**

 

Jason didn't know anything was wrong until Leo started screaming. 

At first, they were just sitting there, basking in the beauty of the parade. He didn't know when Leo fell asleep, but he was definitely out cold now. 

He jumped back as Leo started flailing around, fire exploding at his fingertips and the ring glowing violently on his finger. Jason jumped into action, kneeling in front of Leo strategically so he wouldn't get burned. 

"Leo! Leo, wake up!" His heart pounded against his chest as a voice spoke behind him. 

"You can't wake him up. He needs the potion." 

Jason spun around to the figure before him. His telltale red scarf fluttered around his neck in the evening wind. 

A growl bubbled in Jason's throat. "Himeros." 

The god waved at him, a small smirk on his lips. _"Buonasera,_ Mr. Grace."

The distance between them was closed within seconds, and Jason was a bit surprised to find Himeros' shirt balled into his fist. "What are you doing to him?!" 

With a poof of red, the god was gone, calling out behind him as he kneeled next to Leo's writhing body. He dragged the back of his palm across Leo's cheek, shushing him. And for a second, the seizing stopped, only to pick up again as soon as he pulled away. 

" _Povero bambino..._ He has such a kind heart." 

"If you like him so much, why don't you help him." The pure hate in Jason's voice was surprising to himself, but it was warranted given the situation. 

Himeros sighed, turning to Jason as the paper from the picnic appeared in his hand. "Only you can help him now." 

He ripped the paper from Himeros' hands, waving it around to prove his point. "With your dumb riddles? No way. Just take the damn ring off now and save us the trouble." 

"I cannot simply snap my fingers and reverse it. Love magic is the most dangerous form, manipulating the very foundation of a person's heart. There are rules to magic." Himeros stepped forward, taking Jason's hands in his own. 

Suddenly, Jason saw a float of gold, with a red heart in the center, standing as tall as a palm tree. He heard the whisper of the god in his mind. 

"Find the box. Inside is the elixir young Leonardo needs to survive the coming days." 

Then he was back on the cliffside, with the parade going on to his left and a now whimpering Leo on his right. Himeros stepped back, bowing his head. 

"Tell Leo the prophecy. And about those marks on your sides. My brother's don't like me telling our heroes about that little tidbit. Be safe, and be wary of the dangers that await. He wears the face of someone you once knew." 

Jason's skin was tingling as Himeros walked away, the candles flickering to life as he passed. "Oh, and you should be able to calm Leo down temporarily. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how." 

He winked and blew a kiss in Jason's direction before evaporating in a cloud of mist and rose petals. Very cliche. 

The second the lust god disappeared, Jason rushed to Leo's side, stilling his convulsions with his touch alone. He slid his arms under Leo's legs and neck, picking him up bridal style before shooting into the air. 

With the lights of Palermoo sparkling beneath them, and the waves crashing softly against the rocky shores, Jason carried his friend to the deck of the Argo II


	6. I Love You, Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it my friends. The last chapter. I want to thank those of you who have been there with me to the very end. This is been such a wild ride and really great first fic for me and I really struggled writing the end of this. There's lots of twists and some laughs and a whole lot of tears waiting to be shed. Also, to explain why it still says 6/? instead of 6/6 for the chapters, I might do a few alternate endings. Anyways, have fun, folks! There will be more notes at the end.

**Chapter 6, Part 1: Jason**

 

It took two kisses an hour to keep Leo from having what everyone had come to call ‘fits’.

Jason had been by Leo’s bedside for hours, and the burden of sleep deprivation was taking its toll on him. It was around midnight when Piper came in with a cup of coffee. 

“Hey Jay.” She held out the mug to him, taking care as not to burn either of them. 

Jason took the cup and shot her a smile. “Hey Pipes. What are you doin up this late?”

“Didn’t you hear? The entire crew has started a campaign called ‘Get Jason to Sleep 2k16’. I’m the frontrunner.” 

She took a seat next to him as he laughed, sipping from the mug and relishing in the taste. Piper always knew just how he liked his coffee. 

But Jason’s grin fled all too quickly. “I can’t leave him. What if something happens?” 

“I’m not saying you should abandon him altogether, but you not sleeping isn’t going to help him. Get some rest.” Piper stood and placed her hand on his shoulder, patting it reassuringly. “He’ll be okay.” 

Jason sighed and nodded. “You’re right. Just give me a minute with him.”

She nodded and placed a quick kiss on his forehead before rushing out, shutting the door softly behind her. 

He looked down at Leo’s sleeping face. Chocolate brown curls fell softly just above his closed eyes, every muscle in his face relaxed under his smooth skin. In that moment, Leo reminded Jason of an angel. 

Reaching into his pocket, Jason pulled out a small, gold ring that bore the same markings Jason had on his wrist, minus the tally marks. 

“Leo, I don’t even know if you can hear me in there. But the only way you’re going to wake up is if I find this cure. So I want you to have this.” Jason reached down and slid the ring onto Leo’s ring finger, settling into place just right. “It’s my praetor ring. It was the only thing I had with me when I woke up on that bus besides Ivlivs.” 

Jason chuckled, thinking back to that day as he held Leo’s hand. “That was the first time I saw you; sitting next to me with your big curious eyes and your fidgety hands.” He looked down at his lap, frowning. “I wish things were as easy as they were back then. I just want you to know that as long as you have that ring, I’ll always be with you.” 

He leaned forward slowly, pressing their lips together softly. And though it felt weird to have Leo’s unmoving lips against his, he knew that he was quite literally transferring his love into his best friend. 

As he pulled away, eyes never leaving Leo’s face, the next words seemed to tumble off his lips involuntarily. 

“I love you, Valdez.” 

Then Jason stood up and left. And although he hadn’t meant for those words to come out, he knew he meant them all the same. 

__________

The unspoken truth in the air was that if Jason was to get this potion Himeros told him about, he would need to leave Leo in a panic induced state for a few hours at least, which was the subject of the emergency meeting he called for the next morning. 

“I need to find that float and fast. The effects of the ring are too much for him.” 

Annabeth nodded in agreement. “It’s more important than ever to get that thing off of him.”

“The second day of the festival is today. Maybe the float will make its debut there.” Hazel offered, sipping coffee from a steaming mug in her hand.

Jason nodded along, his hands fidgeting in his lap. He hadn’t seen Leo since last night, and he was having major withdrawal symptoms. 

Frank shifted in his seat next to Hazel, looking from Annabeth to Jason as he spoke. “I didn’t want to be the one to address the elephant in the room-”

Percy fought hard to conceal his giggles at the irony of Frank’s statement.

“-But what are we supposed to do with Leo? Doesn’t he need you?” 

Everyone was quiet after that, nobody eager to say what needed to be said. 

“You can’t just leave him here to suffer, Jay.” Piper spoke softly, as if addressing a wounded animal. 

“You think I want to do that to him?!” Jason bit his lip, angry that they thought that low of him in the first place. His entire body was alive with fury, so intense that he couldn’t quite remember the last time he felt this way. 

Suddenly, his lower abdomen lit up with a sensation that he had never felt before. It was a strange mix between the tingles of a numb limb and the pleasure of a perfect evening with someone you love. 

Faint voices swirled through his ears as his vision turned red. But this red was different than the one in Leo’s eyes when he was under a spell; no, this red was fiery hot, accompanied with pressure on his chest and the tensing of every muscle in his body. This red was foreign yet recognizable, possessing his very being as it did every being at one point in their life or another. 

This red was pure, raw anger. And it took control of him like a puppetmaster. 

The scarlet veil began to fade, but the anger was still alive. Even when it seemed to disappear completely, a red glow flooded from his chest, bathing the room and his friends in the tone of blood. Lightning sparked around him in a show of his emotions that caused the closest people to him, Frank and Piper, to scoot away so fast it left skid marks in the wood that Leo would flip about later. 

_Leo._

Just thinking about him made Jason’s body shudder, his entire being flooded with emotions he couldn’t decipher in his fit of rage.

“I’m going to find that damn box with or without you guys.” Jason turned so quickly a strike of lightning zapped the chair he’d been sitting in to a crisp. Without another word, he stormed up the stairs and flew off into the city, targeting in on the parade. 

Jason was going to hunt down the float if it was the last thing he did. 

Even if it meant tearing the whole city apart to do so. 

 

**Chapter 6, Part 2: Piper**

 

Everyone sat still at the table in the wake of Jason’s outburst, too stunned to do much of anything. 

Well, except for Percy, who continued to quietly eat his yogurt with his head down, as not to draw any attention to himself. 

Hazel cleared her throat as she set her glass down. “Did everyone just see the same thing I saw?”

“Are we talking about the fly in the corner that keeps running into the porthole or the fact that Jason’s chest just lit this place up like a firecracker on the 4th of July?” Percy replied, setting his yogurt on the table nonchalantly. 

Annabeth shot him a glare and sat up straight, drawing her fingers to her chin as she thought. “That light was very similar to the one that entrances Leo with the ring.”

“Well, from an up-close point of view, that was some bad energy. Like he wanted to crush my head with his bare hands.” 

Hazel smacked his arm lightly, chiding him. “Frank be serious. Something is obviously wrong with him. I’ve heard stories about Jason Grace back at Camp Jupiter, and not once have I ever heard anyone say anything about him being that mad. Not even when he stormed Mount Othrys.”

“Then maybe he’s hexed or something? With all that’s happened to Leo is it really that shocking?” Percy offered, frowning at the now empty container. 

Piper sighed and stared down at her hands. She couldn’t help but feel like she was somehow responsible for all this. 

“ _Ay dios mios_ , can someone get me a Tylenol or something? My head’s killing me…” 

Everyone whipped their heads around in perfect unison to the source of that voice. 

There Leo stood, grasping at the door frame and cradling his head in one hand. 

“Leo!” Piper was the first to his side, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight hug. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, do you understand?”

All he did was laugh, then wince, as he patted her on the back. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m not one hundred percent okay yet. I can feel the ring pulling at my subconscious in the form of this lovely headache.” 

“I don’t get it.” Percy chimed. “How are you awake?” 

Leo shrugged in response. “I don’t really know. I just woke up in my bed to the sound of Jason yelling. Where is he, anyways?” 

Everyone traded uneasy glances. 

Piper guided Leo to a seat next to her. “He went out to clear his head, and should be back soon.” 

“Oh. I hope he isn’t gone too long…” Leo rested one hand on the table, still clinging to his forehead with the other. 

A shimmer of light from Leo’s hand caught Hazel’s attention. “Is that a praetor’s ring?” She grabbed at his hand, staring at the jewelry with a shocked expression. 

Frank’s face mirrored hers. “How did you get one of those?” 

“Wait a second, hold up.” Percy stood up with his hands held out in front of him. “Am I under the impression that praetors get rings when they come into the position?” 

“Of course. They’re the same two, passed down from generation to generation since Ancient Rome. The two people that bear them now are Reyna and-” 

“Jason.” Frank finished Hazel’s sentence, still staring in awe at Leo’s finger. “I’ve never seen one up close before…” 

Piper followed their gaze, frowning. “Why would Jason give it to you?” 

“More importantly, why in Hades didn’t I get some cool jewelry? Not like I defended camp from being destroyed or anything.” 

Annabeth put her arm on his shoulder in an attempt at cooling him down. “Relax, Seaweed Brain. Didn’t you hear? They only have two. They probably didn’t want you to wear some cheap knock-off. You’re worth way more than that.” 

Percy smiled, pecking her lips quickly and sitting back down with a smug expression decorating his lips. 

“Anyway…” Piper steered the conversation back on course. “The point is, you’re here now, Leo.” 

“Yeah, but I don’t know how much help I can be. All I’ve been doing for the past twelve hours is running from nightmare Jason.” 

Eyebrows around the table went up in succession.

Annabeth cleared her throat. “Care to elaborate?” 

Leo explained to them the dreams that plagued his sleep, jumping in surprise when Percy slammed his hands on the table after describing the strange tattoos on Jason’s body. 

“That sounds like what happened just now!” He exclaimed, a wild look in his eyes. 

Again, Annabeth patted his shoulder. “Good job, babe. Maybe lay off the sugar next time, okay? You’re a little bit hyper this morning.” 

With reluctance, he settled back in his chair. “Well, it would seem as though the markings in your dream have become a reality.” Percy turned to Annabeth, raising his eyebrows as if to ask, ‘Better?’ 

She nodded in response, resting her hands on the table. “Our first priority should be to track down Jason and get him back here so we can take a look at those markings. Leo, since you’re the only one who’s actually seen them, maybe you could find something about them in the books I leant Jason. They should be in his room somewhere.” 

Leo gave a salute. “Aye, aye, cap’n!” 

“Good. Piper, you stay here with him. The rest of us will search the town.”

Piper nodded. “Got it.” 

“Alright then. We’ll meet back here at dusk.” Annabeth stood up, holding her hands out to stop them as she finished. “And remember, be careful. Jason isn’t himself right now. He’s powerful and should be considered dangerous. Be on your A-game. Move out.” 

__________

And that’s how Piper ended up sitting on the floor with Leo, surrounded by books and empty mugs of hot chocolate. 

Not that she minded it all that much. Piper couldn’t remember the last time she and Leo had really talked, and it seemed necessary now more than ever to get some things out in the open. She was about halfway through one of the books when she spoke up. 

“Hey Leo?”

He didn’t look up from the book he was reading, raising his head slightly as he responded. “Hm?”

She bit her lip, taking an extra big gulp of hot chocolate before she continued. “Can we talk about what’s going on?” 

“Sure. You see, it starts at a young age. As a kid grows up, they start seeing words everywhere. Eventually, they put words together into sentences and then sentences into paragraphs with information for other people to read. But sometimes it’s really boring, and-”

“No, no, no!” Piper burst into giggles. “I mean about the Jason thing.”

She watched the nervousness creep onto his face. “Yeah, I thought you might bring that up soon…”

“Look Leo… I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately and, well… I know you like Jason.”

Piper’s heart nearly exploded when she saw the fear and pain that flooded through Leo’s entire body. Instead of denying it, he glued his eyes to the book in front of him, though Piper knew that he wasn’t reading it. 

His voice was quiet when he spoke. “How long have you known?” 

“Just since last night. Jason still doesn’t know, does he?” 

Leo shook his head. “Look, Pipes, I never meant to hurt anyone, I didn’t know the Erotes were going to make a mess out of this, and I just wanted you and Jason to be happy together, and I-”

“Leo, I want you to tell him.”

“-I’ll make sure you two will- Wait what?”

She smiled at him, setting her book aside. “He loves you, too. I heard him tell you last night while you were sleeping.” 

His face turned visibly red, and she watched as he glanced up at her. “He did?”

“Yeah. And as much as I love Jason, he clearly wants you as much as you love him. So tell him. Maybe it’ll help fix this whole mess.” She took his hand and kissed his cheek. “I want you to be happy, Leo.”

For the first time in a long time, Piper saw the pinpricks of tears grow in Leo’s eyes. He rushed forward and hugged her tight, sobbing quietly in her ear. “Thank you, Pipes.”

Piper patted his back and smiled into his neck, her own tears sliding silently down her face. 

“Whatever makes you happy, Leo.”

 

**Chapter 6, Part 3: Jason**

 

The inherent upbeat nature of the parade was making Jason sick. 

Screaming children combined with the sickly smell of sweets made his skin crawl. It was as if everything around him was enhanced; every sound was louder, every smell stronger, and every surface brighter. 

He was one big walking migraine. 

On top of that, after his little incident on the ship, the tattoos on his skin began to grow. He could feel them inching up his chest, and curving down again in the middle. 

His mind questioned why he was here in the first place, answering itself with two words.

Leo Valdez.

Jason was suddenly overcome with the feeling of repulsion. The thought of Leo’s lips on his own made him want to vomit. Images of all they had done flooded his mind, and with each one he felt more and more disgusted. 

Yet he managed to ignore the strange sensations in favor of finding this damn potion. If he wanted this all to end, finding the cure was the fastest way. 

Jason had just turned onto the back street where the floats were being held before the parade when he ran into someone. 

He stumbled back. “Watch where you’re going!” 

The figure turned around, and Jason found himself hated her more now than before he saw her. The first thing he was drawn to was her hair. It was cut short, a bit longer than a pixy-cut, with some strands here and there dyed a bright red, which contrasted heavily with her pale complexion. Her lips were stuck in a constant scowl between the chomps she took of the bubblegum in her mouth. She was wearing a black crop-top with stick-like white lettering that gave Jason a headache, exposing her pierced belly-button and a tattoo of two swords crossed in combat. To top it off, her black shorts were frayed and ripped in several places, and her black combat boots were heavily caked in mud, like she just came back from a hike.

Just staring at her filled him with a fury so pure it was incredible that he hadn’t burnt her to a crisp. 

“You’re already this angry? I like it.” Her eyes sparkled red as she regarded him with an interested glare. “Lyssa, Aidia, I found him!” 

Moments later, a girl that could be her twin stepped out from behind one of the floats. She evoked similar emotions as the first girl, yet Jason didn’t feel the same fury. It was more of a blind hatred, not that he necessarily wanted to yell and scream, merely the urge to bash her head into a wall. She was dressed more simply, wearing plain red jeans and a black tank-top that depicted a field in flames. While her hair was a simply black as well, her eyes screamed with hatred, like Jason had murdered her dog or something. 

“Excellent. Where’s Aidia?” The way the newcomer spoke reminded Jason of someone who smoked a few packs a day. 

“Over here!” A can from a nearby dumpster slammed up, revealing an arm coated with garbage. As soon as her head popped into view, Jason thought he might throw up then and there. 

 

Her hair was cut choppy and uneven, but she was nowhere close to pulling it off like Piper did. While her face didn’t have any sort of mutation, her eyes bubbled with green ooze, as if she was crying pure acid. The woman, who Jason assumed to be Aidia, climbed out of the trash can, a banana stuck on her head and her arms and legs slick with something he couldn’t identify. 

“Get your ass over here, we have a job to do.” The first girl, still nameless, turned her attention back to him as Aidia worked her way over. “So you’re the infamous Jason Grace, huh?”

“Much cuter than I expected, no?” Jason picked up a slight Bostonian accent in their voice, which fit pretty much perfectly with the stereotype growing in his head. 

Jason knew immediately that these girls weren’t human. Their ability to influence his emotions was too powerful. He shook his head, pushing past them towards the floats. “Move it, I’ve got things to do.”

The chainsmoker, Lyssa, called after him. “Guess you don’t want our help with Leo then, eh?” 

He paused just in front of a float decorated with an assortment of fruits and vegetables. “What do you know about him?”

The redhead spoke to him, no doubt with a smirk on her lips. “We know that he’s under the influence of the Erotes. And that you’ve got some new developments under your shirt. Not to mention the anger you feel, like a constant hammering in your head.” 

“And the hatred.” Lyssa added.

Then Aidia. “And the disgust.”

Jason felt goosebumps ride down his body. He turned around, immediately flooded once again with the awful emotions these girls seemed to live and breathe. “I’m listening.”

“The name’s Erida. And that potion ain’t for Leo. It’s for you.” She continued, popping her gum a few times for added effect. “The cure to the feelings that are slowly taking control of you. See, that’s the catch to the bargain Leo made with the love gods.” 

Aidia continued for her. “They get to have their plaything, the one who bears the ring.” 

“And we get the one on the receiving end of the affection, the one who gets the sick tats. That’d be you.” Lyssa finished.

Jason snarled, baring his teeth like an animal as lightning flickered around him. “I belong to no one but myself, got it? And even so, it doesn’t make any sense. Leo didn’t ask them to curse him.”

The three of them laughed in unison, a sound sickening, like nails against a chalkboard. 

Aidia regarded him with flushed green eyes. “You really are dense, aren’t you?” 

“Leo loves you, Jason. He agreed to take the god’s help because he thought he would stop liking you.” Lyssa added.

“And instead he got exactly what he wanted: your attention.” Erida’s smile was so infuriating, Jason had to resist the urge to slice her head off.

He shook his head furiously at them. “No. You’re liars, all of you!”

“If you insist, your Grace.” Lyssa cackled, shooting him a smirk. 

“Don’t worry, Jason. You’ll change your mind, soon enough.” As soon as Erida spoke, the three of them dissolved in a green mist.

Jason, with an expression so angry it would have turned even the giants’ away, stomped off towards the other floats. And although the girls were gone, he could still feel their presence in the air, and hear their cackling in the faint wind that swept down the alley. 

 

**Chapter 6, Part 4: Leo**

 

After about twenty minutes of hugging and crying, Leo took out into town to look for Jason. With Piper hot on his trail, they traveled through the crowds with their eyes peeled for a blonde headed Superman. 

Similar to the day before, floats stood vacant for the time being on the streets. Kites and banners fluttered through the air, painting the sky with a rainbow of colors against the pale blue of early morning. 

Piper clung to Leo’s hand as they pushed through the crowd, which had gathered to watch the second rush of floats. They went against the flow of traffic, back towards the lineup in search of Jason. 

They finally pushed through into a small alleyway before coming out just behind the last float. 

“This looks like the place. Let’s split up to cover more ground.” 

Piper nodded and pointed. “I’ll go left, you go right.” 

“Sounds good. Just be careful. You heard Annabeth. He could be dangerous.” Without waiting for a reply, Leo took off, searching the floats up and down. 

“Ah!” Leo cried out, grasping at his neck. He pulled out the necklace, which now burned with red light. 

He let out a deep breath, pushing forward to find the source of the light. 

Running past the floats, he took in vague aspects of each one to distinguish them. One had huge scales stapled into the surface, shimmering in the sun, and another was decorated with different sculpted birds. Some of the more extravagant ones consisted of scenes with intricate designs and people dressed in different costumes to match their floats. 

But Leo stopped in his tracks, skidding across the pavement as he spotted a huge paper mâché heart lit up from within with huge lamps. 

He quickly ran across the pavement, stopping just below the ladder that led to the stage above. Up close, the float was much bigger than it seemed, with sculptures of cupids dotting the edges. As he scanned the rest of the float, Leo caught a quick glimpse of a head of blonde hair. 

“Jason!” Leo took to the ladder, taking two at a time and nearly losing his footing once or twice. He reached the top just in time to see Jason slip into a door on the side of the heart, followed in suit by a blur of red and black. 

Leo rubbed his eyes, convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him. A short jog later, he opened the door and climbed in. The space was cramped, and smelled strongly of bleach. Beams crisscrossed in a maze in front of him, forcing him to duck at awkward angles as he plunged further into the heart. 

Suddenly, Leo felt himself pulled back by an invisible force. Looking behind him, he found that his shirt had gotten caught on one of the beams. 

Just ahead of him, Leo spotted Jason about to climb up to a small compartment in the middle of the heart. 

“Jason!” His voice bounced off the walls around them, causing Jason to turn to the source. 

Leo watched as his eyes filled with surprise and confusion. “Leo, how… How are you here?” 

“I don’t know, to be honest with you.” He held up his hand, the praetor’s ring glistening in the sun, and using his other hand to tug his shirt free. “I think it may have something to do with this.” 

Jason stared at the ring, his face growing red with blush, although his eyes reflected anger. “I shouldn’t have left you that. I should have left you there to suffer.” 

As Jason turned his back to him, Leo’s heart dropped in his chest. “What… Why would you say that?” 

“Because of this, Leo!” He ripped his shirt off, turning to Leo to expose the nearly finished scarlet design that glowed hot red on his chest. 

He felt a lump build in his throat. Leo soon realized that Jason was in fact too hot. Steam rolled off his shoulder and chest in wisps, surrounding the inside of the heart with a light film at the top. 

“Jay, what is that?” Leo stepped forward, reaching out to touch the design, only to pull his hand away with a yelp. 

For the first time in his life, Leo Valdez felt what it was like to be burned. 

He stared down in shock at his irritated skin as Jason spoke. “Hell if I know! Those girls said it was your fault!” Jason took on pacing, back and forth in front of him. Leo could have sworn he saw the figures of three girls standing behind him, but reduced it to his panic induced state. 

Jason continued on with his rant. “I should have known it was you after all. The prophecy warned me, _‘death and pain, the ring shall chart’_. That's all you are, Leo. A pain!”

Leo’s entire body froze. He was certain he wasn’t in a dream, yet he was positive those words had just come from Jason’s mouth. “What prophecy?” 

Jason stopped pacing in front of him, pulling out a holoscroll and opening it to Leo. “This one!”

He watched as the scene played out, his entire body shaking with fear as the serpent-like voice of the Oracle described his fate. Leo sank to his knees, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t…”

“You don’t what Leo?!” Jason voice sounded so angry, it sent rockets of fear down Leo’s spine. 

Suddenly, he was being lifted into the air. Jason’s grip on his shirt shocked him, and would surely burn an imprint in the fabric. “You’re disgusting, Leo Valdez. I know all about your little deal with Cupid. You’re repulsive. How can you think that I would ever like you?”

The design on Jason’s chest glowed brighter now, combated with the alluring light on Leo’s ring. He felt tears streaming down his face as he looked into Jason’s eyes, not recognizing the man he saw in them. 

“Why are you acting like this, Jason?” Leo brought his hands up, slowly so Jason wouldn’t see. 

He snarled at him, bringing their faces closer together. “I’ve always been like this. I just needed to stop pretending I actually cared about you.” 

Leo took a deep breath, keeping eye contact as he spoke. “I don’t believe that.”

In one quick movement, Leo pressed his closed fists against Jason’s temples, his left hand bearing Jason’s ring and his right glistening with Himeros’ ruby. 

With his eyes glued to Jason’s, Leo could see the world fading in his peripheral vision, turning to white around them until it engulfed everything altogether. 

A bright red light shined through it all, fading along with the white as a new place came into focus around him. He stood in a brightly lit space, with nothing stretching out for miles around him. There was no sky and no floor, yet Leo stood as if on solid ground. 

He took a step forward, walking in front of him slowly. A speck in the distance caught his eye, and he ran towards it, identifying three shapes surrounding one more on the ground.

Leo finally reached them, taking in the sight of three girls, who were leaning over the figure on the floor and whispering something inaudible. One, who seemed to hold the authority, reminded him of one of those goth girls from the Ares cabin back home. The one to her right seemed normal enough, though her smile thoroughly creeped him out. And finally, the last girl was a bit hard to look at. Not because she was necessarily unattractive, more like she reminded Leo of everything that made him queasy, like bugs or flirting with cute boys. 

Speaking of boys, was that…

“Jason!” 

The sleeping form of his best friend lay dormant by their side, shirtless and still marked with the strange tattoos. 

The girls turned to him in unison, a confused look plastered on their faces. Now that he could see their faces, Leo was filled with rage. 

“This is a bit strange, ain’t it, girls?” The middle one said. 

The other two nodded, turning back to Jason and whispering to him as they stroked his face. He writhed under their touch, his face stuck in a constant look of discomfort and anger. As those spoke, the markings seemed to grow, inching closer to their finished form. 

“Get away from him!” Leo shouted, thrusting his hands out and shooting balls of fire at the girls. The ones on the floor, taken by surprise, didn’t have time to act in defense, and simply burned to ash around Jason, who grew still in their absence. 

The last one turned to the remains of her sisters before looking back to Leo. “You’re strong, Valdez. I’ll leave in peace. But you can’t save him.” 

Before he got the chance to ask what she meant, she disappeared, her smirk still hanging in the air where she stood. 

Leo was shaken from his thoughts by a groan in front of him. He rushed to Jason’s side, moving his head onto Leo’s lap as he stroked his hair, nervous as he noted how hot his skin was.

“Jay?” He shook him a bit for good measure. “Jason, wake up!”

Drawn down to his chest, Leo watched as the final markings of the tattoo etched themselves into Jason’s skin, forming a perfect heart that stretched up from his groin and finished with twin arches in the center of his chest. It glowed brightly, forcing Leo to turn away until it died down.

The heart faded slowly into Jason skin until there were virtually no signs it had ever been there in the first place. As soon as it disappeared, Jason’s eyes fluttered open, and he found Leo’s in a matter of seconds.

“How blessed am I to wake up to such a beautiful face.” Jason smiled weakly, reaching up to stroke Leo’s cheek. As soon as their skin touched, he dissolved into a fit of coughing, his entire body shaking violently. 

Leo’s heart filled with dread, rubbing Jason’s back through the storm. Once it finished, he relaxed back against Leo’s lap, staring up at him once more. 

“Leo, I… I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it. The girls they… They influenced me.” Jason coughed some more, cupping his hands over his mouth. 

He shook his head, tears pricking against his eyes. “I know. This is all my fault, I should be the one that’s sorry.”

Jason smiled at him again, wiping the tears from Leo’s eyes. “Don’t blame yourself. After all, it takes two-”

“To tango.” Leo finished for him, laughing weakly. “I know.” He sniffled, breathing heavily. “But it’s okay! We’re gonna get you out of here, and then everything will be fine.”

“Leo, we’re in my head. I don’t think it would be good for my health if I left.” He smirked up at him, that little scar on his lip nearly disappearing completely.

The realization of Jason’s words settled onto him. “Jason, you don’t mean- I’m not letting you die, do you understand me?!” 

Jason chuckled, no doubt thinking Leo sounded like a whining toddler. But he didn’t care. There was no way it could end here, not like this. 

“Leo, I want you to do something for me.” Jason reaching up and pulled Leo towards him, speaking in his ear. “I want you to keep on living. For the both of us. Go to Rome, and beat the giants’, and find a nice person who loves you and settle down. But mostly, just make sure you forget about me, okay?”

Tears fell against Jason’s chest like raindrops, flooding down the leaky faucets that were Leo’s eyes. He choked back a sob, wrapping his hands around Jason and shifting so that Leo hovered just beside him. Leo nodded into Jason’s neck, promising that to do what he asked. 

That was the biggest lie he had ever told Jason in his life. 

Leo pulled away, staring down at Jason with a broken smile. And Jason stared back, his eyes still reflecting the hope and beauty, and that electric blue gaze, that was Jason Grace. 

“One more thing I want you to remember…” Jason’s voice was getting hoarse, and Leo could tell their time was running short. 

“Yeah, Jay?” 

Jason pulled his head down, pressing their lips together softly. And there they stayed for five, six, seven seconds. Until their lips parted, and Leo looked back down at him. 

“I love you, Leo.” 

As soon as the last words slipped past his lips, Leo watched the light fade out of Jason’s eyes, taking the electricity of his life with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so, how was that? I know a lot of you are probably really upset and angry, but don't worry! There's another chapter. I was just joshing you guys to make the effect worse because I am, after all, a writer. Stay tuned, because the next and actually for real 100% last chapter is coming very soon, but will also be very short. Hope I didn't break too many hearts with this fake ending. BTW my tumblr is pretty-decent-fanfiction if any of y'all wanna hassle me or ask questions!


	7. Death, Acceptance, and Luaus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is yikes. This took me much longer than I thought it would. I apologize for leaving you all on such a cliffhanger! Hopefully this chapter makes up for it, along with a certain nsfw finale that may or may not be coming soon ;) i also may or may not have planned for there to be 7 chapters as in 7 half bloods. Let me know what you think of the shocking conclusion of Love, Lust, Leo!

**Chapter 7, Part 1: Leo**

It was silent for all of five seconds before Leo broke into hysteric sobs. 

Once again, the white light grew around him until it engulfed his very being. And once it faded, he was back inside the heart on the float. The first thing he heard was a loud crash, like dropping a glass bowl onto a hardwood floor. 

He looked down at the ring on his finger, now reduced to a pile of splintered ruby remains on the sun-kissed skin of-

Jason’s body. He lay just next to him, lifeless and limp against the metal ground. 

He didn’t know how long he lay there, staring at the lifeless face of his best friend. If he didn’t think about it, he could almost pretend Jason was sleeping. Golden hair fell so effortlessly onto the ground and across his face. Leo was thankful that Jason’s eyes were shut, because he knew that seeing them would only make matters worse. The cut on his lip, that stupid, endearing cut, lay still on lifeless lips, a constant reminder that Jason was gone. 

Leo reached out and cupped Jason’s face with his hands, shakily bringing their lips together. Tears fell from his cheeks onto Jason’s face, and when he finally pulled away, a life shattering realization hit him. 

He had never gotten to say that he loved Jason back.

The thought alone nearly destroyed him, and so he spoke his mind aloud now, with the faint celebration of Carnevale behind him and the ever present reminder that he needed to get back to the ship. Fireworks and applause, accented by carnival music and laughter, surrounded him in a mockery of the heartache that pounded through his being. Buttered popcorn and the sickly sweet aroma of sweets and sugar taunted him as he spoke the words that have tortured his mind for months. 

“I love you, too.”

And yet the words felt hollow on his lips, as if they didn’t mean anything. And they didn’t. No amount of ‘I love you’s’ would ever bring Jason back. 

After what seemed like years, Leo’s forced himself to tear his eyes away, shakily getting to his feet and tearing the cursed ring off his finger, thankful to find that it slid off with ease. He threw it out in front of him, jumping as something crashed to the floor behind him. 

His eyes fell onto the box that haunted his nightmare, the brown one with the glowing red aura. He picked it up and looked inside to find a small vial of red fluid tucked neatly against red satin.  


_A lot of help it’ll do me now_ , he thought. 

Still, he tucked the vial into his tool belt and threw the box onto the floor, taking a bit of solace at the sight of it splintering into pieces. 

With nothing else to do but cry, Leo forced himself out of the float and back onto the street. Once his feet hit the concrete, he looked back up at the heart, angry at the irony it represented. Leo climbed into the car built into the front of the float, and after a few minutes of work, the engine roared to life.

Stealing part of the parade was the last thing on his mind as he drove out towards the docks. 

__________

The hardest part was explaining what they had to do. 

Piper fell to her knees when she heard the news, her entire being shaking violently. Hazel, although still torn up herself, rushed to her aid, holding her close. Annabeth was heartbroken as well, yet Leo knew she was forcing herself to stay strong as the leader of the group. It was Frank and Percy that retrieved Jason’s body, Frank with tears in his eyes and Percy obviously in shock as they placed Jason’s lifeless form onto the bed in what used to be his room. 

Leo thanked Percy and Frank as they left, shutting the door behind them and leaving Leo alone with Jason’s body. He could still hear Piper crying outside, her sobs echoing through the halls like a newborn’s cry. 

In the darkness of the room, Leo didn’t notice the figure standing in the corner at first glance. But as it stepped out into dim light offered by the moon through a porthole, Leo recognized the newcomer, and nearly hissed at the sight. 

“What do you want, Eros? Haven’t you done enough already?” 

The love god regarded him with something like pity, as if Jason’s death was a mere inconvenience to him. “Leo, do you love Jason?” 

He was in shock, partly because Eros hadn’t used his full name and the other because he had the audacity to ask him such an absurd question. 

“Of course I love him. At least, I did. Until you murdered him.” 

Eros’ lips curled into a smirk as he looked down, as if the wood paneling was the most interesting thing he’d seen in a long time. “Why do you love him?” 

_There he goes again_ , Leo thought. The way Eros talked about Jason, as if he was still alive and well, only fueled Leo’s anger. He couldn’t control himself when he started to scream. 

“What kind of dumb question is that?! Jason is kind, and caring, and courageous, and everything you aren’t! He’s beautiful inside and out! He’s the bravest person I know! The only person that’s willing to sacrifice everything for someone else, even if it’s his life! He’s-” Leo paused, staring down at the soft curve of Jason’s paling lips; at his calm face and perfectly sculpted jaw. “He was perfect.” 

A hand on his shoulder made him tear his eyes away from Jason’s form. Eros’ touch didn’t have the usual effect that radiated from his very being. Instead, his touch felt cold. It took every ounce of willpower Leo possessed not to burn the flesh off Eros’ stupidly perfect palm. 

“Leo, I know your love is true. As is Jason’s. And you have the key to your happiness.” With the snap of his fingers, a faint red glow illuminated from one of the pockets on his belt, as well as beneath his shirt. When Eros spoke again, it was at his ear this time as a faint whisper. “You just need to be smart enough to figure out how to achieve it.” 

A warm breath of air told Leo that Eros was gone. He reached into his toolbelt and retrieved the vial, taking the time to examine it for the first time since he had retrieved it in the first place. 

It had an odd shape to it, sloping down from the top like a curved pyramid. The lid was circular, like a bottle cap, with a small indentation in the middle that looked a bit like a keyhole. 

His body reacted before his mind had registered the connection, fishing the heart locket from his shirt and ripping it from his neck. The red glow faded under his touch, receding to the bottom where the locket ended in a small rectangle. 

The heart fit snug in the lock, igniting Leo’s heart rate as he quickly turned it. It was long before the top clicked off, red vapor steaming from the vial.

“There’s no way…” His eyes shifted from the liquid to Jason. Leo sat beside him, his hand resting on the soft skin at Jason’s ear. It took little to no effort to slide his lips open, the mouth of the vial fitting perfectly between them like a puzzle piece. 

He paused for a moment. Eros had tricked him once before, and there was no telling what his true intentions were. The possibility of this working was slim, especially given the severity of the situation. 

It only took the thought of having Jason back for his body to decide for him. With a small tip of the bottle, the contents of the vial trickled past pale blue lips, glowing red all the way down Jason’s throat and beneath his tattered shirt. 

One second. Two. Then three. Time seemed to stop around him, each moment dragging on as long as possible. 

And still, nothing. Tears bit at Leo’s eyes as he all but collapsed at Jason’s side. With cupped, shaky hands, he brought their lips together in a final goodbye, only to be met with a small shock of familiar electricity. 

Leo jumped back, staring in awe at Jason’s lips. Like wildfire, a red glow spread through every vein in Jason’s body, sliding up his arms like tiny snakes. An aura as blue as the morning sky engulfed his body, returning his skin to its natural golden tanned beauty. Once his lips were rosy pink once more, they opened and inhaled a quick, greedy breath. 

“Jason!” Leo was at the bedside before he even realized what was happening. The glow faded just as Leo’s head came to a rest at Jason’s chest, a sob escaping his throat at the sound of a steady heartbeat and the feel of the familiar warmth of a living being. 

Laughter like an angel’s hymn echoed in the tiny room. Warm hazel met electric blue as their eyes locked, their lips meeting halfway in a kiss that made the entire world fall away around them. 

It was a miracle they heard the door slam open behind them at all.

The chorus of gasps was interrupted by Piper’s sobs of joy as she ran to Jason’s side, pulling both of them into a hug so tight Leo could feel their heartbeats, all lined up. 

Percy broke the silence, his voice full of confusion. “How did you…?” 

“It’s a long story.” Leo replied. 

“Can we hear it over dinner? I’m starving. Apparently being dead really builds up an appetite.” 

___________

Jason described the Underworld just as Leo imagined it: dark, crowded, and an odd mix of scary and boring. 

“So I’m waiting in this line for what seems like forever, when all of a sudden I felt like I was being pulled up by my collar. Next thing I knew, I was back in my room.” 

Percy nodded, looking to Annabeth. “Sounds like things haven’t changed much since we were there a few years ago.” 

“Same here. Except there was a lot more waiting and I’m pretty sure I was a hell of a lot more bored than you were.” Hazel added. “No pun intended.” 

“Bad puns aside, the important thing is you’re alive.” Annabeth stood up as she spoke. “While I hate to cut this meeting short, we all have a prior engagement. I’ll see you on the deck in an hour. Meetin-”

“Meeting adjourned!” Percy cut in, grinning wildly at Annabeth’s glare. 

**Chapter 7, Part 2: Jason**

Piper’s door suddenly seemed a lot bigger than it used to be. 

Jason stood in the hallway, sounds of clattering from on deck ringing through the halls. Leo had finally parted from Jason’s side after he discovered what Jason had to do. 

Before he could change his mind, Jason’s knuckles hit the wood, not waiting for more than a second for a response. 

Piper’s sweet voice called from within. “Come in.”

With shaky hands, Jason opened the door. Piper’s room was always tidy, but now it seemed even more so. Her shoes were lined up in a tidy row beside the door, and her closet lay open, exposing neat lines of clothing. With a wince, he noticed that the pictures of the two of them had been removed from her shelves. 

“Jason.” She rose from the bed, pristinely made. “Hi.”

Jason rubbed his shoulder, waving. “Hey Pipes. I feel like it’s probably time for us to talk about, you know, everything.”

Piper nodded, sitting back down and patting the bed beside her. 

Jason opted for the chair next to the bed, sitting down and facing her. The room was quiet for too long before he spoke. 

“I love him, Piper.” 

He watched her visibly flinch, but her face showed acceptance. Of course she knew. Everyone did. 

“I know.” Her voice was small and soft. Brown hair cascaded down her face, her eyes sliding up to meet his. In that moment, Jason knew why he had liked Piper. She was beautiful. 

“I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t really know how it happened.” Jason felt like an idiot. There was no need to justify his feelings. 

Still, he felt like he had dragged her on, giving her hope for a relationship that, up until a few weeks ago, he thought was the only thing that mattered. 

And to her, it probably still did. 

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, holding his face in her hand. “I forgive you.”

Suddenly, they were hugging, and Jason felt the world lift off his shoulders. 

Piper whispered in his ear before she let him go. “Don’t ever apologize for how you feel.”

Once she pulled away, she wiped the tears from her eyes, taking a deep shaky breath that matched his own. “We better get going. The others will worry.”

Jason nodded, watching her leave before following. Even though they had talked it through, Jason couldn’t help but feel that he and Piper would never been the same again. Their friendship suddenly felt as closed as the door shutting quietly behind him. 

___________

The theme of this week’s Fun Friday was luau. Just like last time, tables took residence on either side of the ship, covered in fruits and meats. Someone even managed to get a one of those pigs with the apple in its mouth. 

Tiki torches lit up the perimeter around them, casting a glow of shadows on the deck as people danced to the upbeat music from unseen speakers. Jason scanned the crowd once before finding Leo. 

For once, Leo seemed to be in a state of pure bliss. He wore his signature impish grin that showed in his eyes, alive with the warm fire Jason had grown to love. 

Once their eyes met, Leo crossed the room, moving to grab Jason’s hands but hesitating. He still didn’t know where they stood. 

Leo spoke first. “Hi.” 

“Hey.” Jason waved back, quickly pulling his arm to his side. 

Brown curls brushed against Jason’s chin as Leo looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. Although cliche, Jason lifted Leo’s head with his hand, forcing their eyes to meet. 

“I’m sorry about what I said before Leo. I wasn’t myself, and I know that’s not a very good excuse but it’s all I’ve got. I don’t want to go on but I just wanted you to know that-”

Leo interjected. “Jason really it’s fine-”

“I love you, Leo.” Jason cut him off, his stomach suddenly feeling light as air. 

It was silent for too long. The world seemed to drop around them until nothing remained but the soft fire behind Leo’s eyes. 

“I love you too.” It was quiet, barely a whisper, but it filled Jason’s heart to the brim, eased every fear he hadn’t even known he carried. 

Jason brought their lips together, a soft, meaningful kiss that spoke volumes. The feel of Leo’s arms around his neck warmed the chill of the night air. 

Leo smile was as big as the moon when he pulled away, a small laugh sliding past his lips. “Let’s see if you can dance as well as you kiss.” 

They now wore twin smiles as they raised to the dance floor. Jason tried his best, and failed, to follow the steps that Leo made in front of him. Eventually, he gave in to instinct, moving in random but easy glides. Leo’s laugh was all he could hear above the noise, and in that moment, Jason knew that as long as he was here, with the people he loved most, nothing was impossible. 

Not even conquering love


End file.
